Anne Neville
Anne Neville (11 June 1456 – 16 March 1485) was Queen of England from 26 June 1483 until her death in 1485 as the wife of King Richard III. She was the younger of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (the "Kingmaker"). Before her marriage to Richard, she had been Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, the only son and heir apparent of King Henry VI.
For other people named Anne Neville, see Anne Neville (disambiguation).Anne Neville
26 June 1483 – 16 March 1485
6 July 1483
11 June 1456
Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England
16 March 1485 (aged 28)
Palace of Westminster, London, England
25 March 1485
As a member of the powerful House of Neville, Anne played a critical part in the Wars of the Roses fought between the houses of York and Lancaster for the English crown. Her father betrothed her as a girl to Prince Edward, the only son of the ousted King Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.[1] The marriage was to seal an alliance with the Lancastrians and halt the Wars of the Roses. [1]
After the death of Prince Edward and defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Anne married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of King Edward IV and of George, Duke of Clarence, the husband of Anne's elder sister Isabel. Richard was also Anne's first cousin once removed; her great-aunt, Cecily Neville, was Richard's mother. Anne became queen when Richard acceded to the throne in June 1483, following the declaration that Edward IV's children by Elizabeth Woodville were illegitimate. Anne predeceased her husband by five months, dying in March 1485. Her only child, Edward of Middleham, died in 1484 at the age of seven.
Duchess of Gloucester[edit]
The exact date of the wedding of Anne Neville and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is not known, although most sources agree that a ceremony took place sometime in the late spring/early summer of 1472 in St Stephen's Chapel in the Palace of Westminster, after a dispensation to marry was issued from Rome on 22 April 1472.[7] This dispensed the impediment of affinity created when Anne married Edward of Lancaster, who was Richard's blood cousin.[8] The couple made their marital home in the familiar surroundings of Middleham Castle, Yorkshire, after Richard was appointed Governor of the North on the king's behalf. Upon her marriage, Anne was styled Duchess of Gloucester. They had only one child, Edward, born at Middleham allegedly sometime in 1473, but more probably in 1476.[9] Anne's mother, the Countess of Warwick, joined her daughter's household in 1473 after Richard obtained the king's permission to release his mother-in-law from her guarded sanctuary.[2]
In 1478, Anne Neville inherited the Lordship of Glamorgan. The title had been held by her father and on his death had passed to Anne's elder sister Isabel Neville. Women could not exercise the Lordship in their own right, so the title immediately transferred to Isabel's husband, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence. On his death in February 1478, the title passed to Anne and was henceforth exercised by her husband, Richard of Gloucester until his death, when it passed to the new king, Henry VII.[10]