Elizabeth of York

File:Elizyork.JPG Elizabeth of York

Elizabeth of York (February 11, 1466–February 11, 1503) was the Queen Consort of King Henry VII of England, who she married in 1486, and the mother of King Henry VIII.

She was born at Westminster, the eldest child of King Edward IV and his own Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville (who both had children from earlier relationships). Following her father's death and the accession to the throne of his brother Richard III, scurrilous rumours circulated that Richard intended to marry her as soon as his wife, the ailing Anne Neville, was dead. There is no surviving evidence for such a plan, although Sir George Buck later claimed to have uncovered a letter from Elizabeth (now lost) which showed she was party to it. It has been suggested that the rumours were started by Elizabeth's mother, Elizabeth Woodville, as part of her campaign to put her daughter on the throne; if Richard had been able to obtain a dispensation from the church to marry his niece, it would have prevented her marrying the chief threat to his throne, Henry Tudor.

Elizabeth Woodville arranged to marry her daughter to Tudor if he could overthrow King Richard, which he did at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485, becoming King Henry VII. But he was in no hurry to marry Elizabeth of York, although he had publicly taken a sacred oath to do so before he had left France to invade England. On October 30, Henry was crowned, but still delayed his wedding. Finally Parliament itself, on behalf of the people, petitioned him to carry out his promise, and on January 18, 1486, the marriage took place. It was not until November 25, 1487, more than a year after their first child, Arthur, was born on September 20, 1486, that Elizabeth was crowned queen.

It was a relatively successful marriage, all things considered. They had seven (or possibly eight, but only seven are shown in the commemorative picture painted in about 1509) children:

• Arthur, Prince of Wales (September 20, 1486 – April 2, 1502).
• Margaret Tudor (November 28, 1489 – October 18, 1541).
• Henry VIII of England (June 28, 1491 – January 28, 1547).
• Elizabeth Tudor (July 2, 1492 – September 14, 1495).
• Mary Tudor (March 18, 1496 – June 25, 1533).
• Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset (February 21, 1499 – June 19, 1500).
• Edward Tudor. He may not have actually existed. Unknown dates of birth and death. Suspected to be a mistaken name for Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset. However, this name is listed in official records as a child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. Edward is also mentioned in Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy by Alison Weir as having died young. She assumes the child to have been buried with his family in Westminster Abbey.
• Katherine Tudor (February 2, 1503 – February 2, 1503).

The eldest son and heir to the throne, Arthur, Prince of Wales, died after marrying Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. This seems to have been the motive for Elizabeth to become pregnant the last time, in order to strengthen the succession. Elizabeth died of a post-pregnancy infection, on her 37th birthday, 9 days after giving birth to her last child, Katherine Tudor, who was born and died on the same day, February 2, 1503.

Although Henry VII was known to be a very thrifty person, he threw his wife a splendid funeral. She is buried in Westminster Abbey in the Lady Chapel. Later, her husband Henry was buried beside her.

Elizabeth of York is the only English Queen to have been a wife, daughter, sister, niece and mother to English Kings. Elizabeth is also the basis for the queen's picture found in a deck of cards.

Her second son Henry VIII of England followed his father as king, her eldest daughter Margaret married James IV of Scotland, and her youngest child Mary Tudor (queen consort of France) married Louis XII of France.