Elizabeth Woodvile. Queen Elizabeth of England

Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492) was the queen consort of King Edward IV of England from 1464 to 1483.

She was the first of 12 children of the marriage between Richard Woodville, BaronRivers and later First Earl of Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Dowager Duchess of Bedford.

She married in 1452 to John Gray of Grosby, seventh Baron of Ferrers, who had two sons, Thomas, then the first Marquis of Dorset, and Richard. Her husband died duringthe Second Battle of St. Albans, fighting on the side of Lancaster.

King Edward IV had, by then, several mistresses but Elizabeth was not satisfied with being one of many. She insisted on marrying the King. The marriage between Edward and Elizabeth was held in Grafton Regis, Woodville family property. The nuptials wereunknown to the public. By then, the counselor of Edward, Richard Neville, Earl ofWarwick, negotiated a marriage alliance with France. When the union of Edward andElizabeth became public, caused considerable resentment of the Earl of Warwick, seeing Isabel's relatives (especially her brother, the Earl of Rivers) began to be favoredin place, changed the side of Lancaster.

With the favors obtained the Queen's family was not alone in Warwick resented. In 1480, for example, when her sister's husband, Sir Anthony Grey, died was buried in the Cathedral of St Albans with a gold bracelet that rivaled the Archbishop wearing thelargest Abbey. That was nothing compared with the unions that the Queen arranged forher family, the most outrageous when her younger brother, John Woodville who was 20,he married Catherine Neville, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk who had 64 years of age.The queen also married his sister Catherine Woodville, aged 18, with Henry Stafford,second Duke of Buckingham who was 12 years.

This couple had 10 children but only 7 survived childhood:

- Elizabeth (1465 - 1503) future Queen of England as the wife of Henry VII Tudor.

- Mary (1466 - 1482)

- Cecile (1469 - 1507) Viscountess Welles.

- Edward V (1470 - 1483) Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall.

- Margaret (1472).

- Richard (1473 - 1483) Duke of York.

- Anne (1475 - 1511) Duchess of Norfolk.

- George (1477 - 1479) Duke of Bedford.

- Catherine (1479 - 1529) Countess of Devon.

- Bridget (1480 - 1517) nun.

After King's death in 1483, Elizabeth briefly became Queen mother, until June 25, 1483, when the union of it with the monarch was declared void by the parliament  on the spot "titulus Regulus." The cancellation was done under the argument that, previously, Edward IV had been promised in marriage to Lady Eleanor Talbot and there was a marriage contract signed, valid under the law, which forbade the monarch to contract another marriage, as it become a bigamist. This information was releasedwhen a priest testified that he had performed the ceremony.

With this evidence, all the children she had with Edward IV Elizabeth, including the young King Edward V, were declared illegitimate. Therefore, the brother in law of it, Richard III took the English crown and kept the princes Edward V and Richard in the Tower of London, where they had stayed to await the coronation. The fate of the Princes in the Tower is, at present, unknown. Elizabeth lost the title of Queen Mother and was conferred the Lady Elizabeth Grey. She and her five daughters, fearing for her safety, asked for shelter from the jealous courtiers who were destroying the Woodville clan.

Elizabeth became an ally of the House of Lancaster, in a conspiracy. He promised to marry her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, the suitor of this family to the throne, Henry Tudor(later Henry VII), if he could defeat and depose Richard III.  After Henry VII ascended the throne in 1485, joining with Edward IV Elizabeth Woodvillewas declared legitimate and their descendants were legitimized again. King endorsedthis legitimacy because he wanted his wife the heiress of the House of York and, thus,have an even more solid right to the throne. So Elizabeth was awarded the title of Queen Dowager.

Queen Elizabeth died in 1492 in Bermondsey Abbey, was buried in St George's Chapelin Windsor Castle, next to her husband Edward IV