Whilst some people wrote legends about her beauty and called her the most enchanting woman in the British Isles, others accused her of witchcraft and considered her a sorceress. Known for her far from noble origins, Elizabeth Woodville was able to charm the future Edward IV and become Queen of England.

Here’s a look at one of the most incredible women in British history.

Royalty Now Re-Creation of Elizabeth Woodville from her portrait.

Key Facts about Elizabeth Woodville

Elizabeth Woodville was born at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire in October 1437 to Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Richard Woodville, Baron Rivers.
Elizabeth is a key figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of dynastic armed conflicts between the Lancasters (Red Rose) and Yorks (White Rose).
She was married twice. Her first husband was John Grey of Groby, a nobleman who fought on the Lancaster side.
In 1464 Elizabeth secretly married Edward IV, King of England of the York dynasty. In this marriage they had 10 children. The eldest daughter of Elizabeth and Edward - Elizabeth of York became the future Queen of England and wife of Henry VII. She was the only woman in English history whose father, brother, uncle and husband were all kings of England.

The scandalous origins of the future queen

Elizabeth Woodville was born in October 1437 and was the first of 14 children of Jacquetta of Luxembourg and Richard Woodville. According to the memories of contemporaries, the married life of Elizabeth’s parents was filled with love and mutual respect, despite the fact that their union made a lot of noise among the English nobility. Initially, Jacquetta was married to Prince John of Lancaster, brother of King Henry V and uncle of the future King Henry VI. John was a full 26 years older than his bride, and died in Normandy after two years of marriage, leaving no heirs. Jacquetta could claim a stipend from the king, provided she did not marry without his permission, but as we know, the heart knows no law.

Sir Richard Woodville served as valet and accompanied Jacquetta on her journey from France to England. The young pair fell in love with each other and were secretly married in 1437. The union between a petty nobleman and a relative of the king (albeit by her husband), whose lineage went back to Charlemagne, if not considered scandalous, then certainly was something strange.

Because of the mesalliance and marrying without the king’s approval, the newlyweds had to pay a £1,000 fine by mortgaging Jacquetta’s estate. The Woodville couple managed to win back the favour of Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou, to gain a foothold at court, and Richard even received the title of Baron Rivers.

Marriage to Lancastrian

Around 1452, when Elizabeth was 16 years old (other versions say 15), she was married to John Grey of Groby, the future Baron Astley. This marriage produced two sons, Thomas and Richard. In 1455, England was gripped by a series of armed dynastic conflicts called the Wars of the Roses. The English nobility is divided between two warring factions - Lancaster and York. Like his father-in-law Richard Woodville, John Grey supported the Lancastrian faction. The fate of the young Baron Astley was cut short at the second battle of St Albans, which ended in victory for the Yorkist army. Thus, the beautiful Elizabeth Woodville became a widow. In 1461 the Yorkists succeeded in defeating the Lancastrians at Mortimer Cross and at Towton. Margaret of Anjou fled the country and Edward of York captured Henry VI, proclaiming himself the new king. Elizabeth’s position was becoming increasingly precarious. The lands that were to go to her sons on the death of John Grey were confiscated in favour of the crown. Elizabeth had to return to her parent’s family estate in Northamptonshire.

Meeting and relationship with Edward IV

Portrait & Facial Re-Creation of Edward VI

It is not known exactly how the future spouses met. Some historians believe that they knew each other from childhood. Others consider that the first meeting took place when Edward stayed at the house of Elizabeth’s parents, where she lived after the death of her first husband. There is another version, which is as beautiful and romantic as the chivalric ballads - Edward met Elizabeth while hunting in the forest. The woman and her sons were waiting for him under the branches of a mighty oak to ask him personally to restore her children’s rights to the family estates. Edward was struck by the beauty and charm of the young woman and, according to legend, desired her at the same moment, offering Elizabeth to be his mistress. However, the pious and chaste woman gave a firm refusal (according to other sources, she even had to pull out a dagger and threaten Edward with suicide). Impressed, Edward could not resist Elizabeth’s allure, and promised to marry her.

There is another version, spread by opponents of Elizabeth Woodville. Evil tongues said that the young widow, like her mother Jacquetta of Luxembourg, had a witchcraft gift and simply bewitched Edward. This gossip was fuelled by the legend of Jacquetta’s ancestry. According to this legend, her lineage was descended from the Celtic fairy Melusina, who was half woman and half fish.

But reality is always more prosaic than fiction. Elizabeth had the “classic” beauty of her time, and therefore Edward had no chance not to fall in love. She was a bright blonde with a graceful slender figure, a high forehead (incredibly fashionable at the time), and correct facial features. Her eyes were, according to some versions, blue, according to others, green in colour with yellow speckles, because of which she was nicknamed “The Dragon-Eyed Queen.”

King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville were secretly married on 1 May 1464 at her parent’s estate. The news of the king’s wedding horrified the whole of English society, the Privy Council, and most importantly – Richard Neville, Duke of Warwick, the “Kingmaker” and cousin of King Edward. The latter owed much to his influential and active relatives. Warwick was already negotiating with the French, intending to marry Edward IV to one of their princesses and conclude a military alliance with France. The King’s wedding ruined all his plans.

Elizabeth, though a noble woman, was far below Edward in position, and she was five years older and already had two children from her first marriage. But worst of all, her father and her late husband were Lancastrians, enemies of York!

Edward IV’s family was also not enthusiastic. The king’s mother, Cecilia Neville, did not approve of her son’s choice, and was not even present at the magnificent coronation of Elizabeth, which took place on 26 May 1465 in Westminster Abbey. The newly crowned queen is said to have been dressed in a beautiful purple (according to other versions blue) colored robe that accentuated her slender figure.

Reign

At court, Elizabeth, as befits a model wife of an English monarch, immersed herself in family life, giving birth and raising children. Among the leisure activities available to the noble ladies of the time were dancing, needlework, music-making, hunting and various games such as backgammon, dice and chess, as well as gambling, which was certainly popular in those times. Interestingly enough, there are now history inspired modern slot sites, some of which are based on ye olde gambling and past monarchs.

Although Elizabeth was smiling, charming and pious, according to the recollections of her contemporaries, she quickly developed a circle of detractors. Entering the highest English society, Elizabeth tried to arrange favourable marriages for all her brothers and sisters (which, by the way, there were 12), bestowing high titles and lands numerous kin. It came to absolutely ridiculous cases. For example, the marriage between Elizabeth’s 20-year-old brother John Woodville and the richest Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who at the time of the wedding was over 60 years old.

The growing power of the Woodville family displeased many of Edward IV’s supporters, especially Warwick. He feared that a new power was forming around the king, bound by kinship while his influence over Edward IV was fading by the day. The young king removed Neville’s relatives from important positions and also intended to make an alliance with the Duke of Burgundy, while Warwick wanted to enlist the support of the King of France (an enemy of the Duke of Burgundy).

Overall, a series of decisions of Edward IV not in favour of Warwick led to the fact that in 1469 the latter organised a rebellion against the king, and soon joined the Lancaster faction and escaped to France Margaret of Anjou, and even helped to free and put on the throne her husband Henry VI. He was not king for long. In 1470 Edward IV regained the throne and Henry was executed.

Marriage to Edward IV raised Elizabeth’s social status to the skies, but her life after her coronation could hardly be called cloudless. After the Battle of Edgecote Moor, when the Yorkist army was defeated, her father and brother John were captured and then beheaded. Elizabeth proudly overcame the intrigues of courtiers, the persecution of her loved ones and her husband’s treachery. Being pregnant, she had to take refuge in Westminster Abbey from Warwick and George Clarence, the king’s younger brother, whom Elizabeth had removed from the line of succession. It was at the Abbey that she gave birth to Prince Edward, who was to take the throne after his father.

Life after Edward’s death

Elizabeth Woodville also survived Edward IV, who died suddenly in the spring of 1483. She was queen dowager for only 63 days while her son Edward V was king under the patronage of his uncle Richard of Gloucester. It was the ambitious and power-hungry man who was destined to become Elizabeth’s worst enemy. As Lord Protector under the young Edward V, Richard, unwilling to hand over power to the Woodville family, imprisoned Elizabeth’s sons from her first marriage, and placed little Edward and Richard, children of Edward IV, in the Tower, from which they soon disappeared without a trace. This would later become one of the most tragic and mystical pages in English history. No one knows exactly what happened to Elizabeth’s boys. The most likely version is that the children were killed on the orders of their uncle Richard. In 1674, while renovating the Tower, workers discovered two children’s skeletons. The sinister discovery once again confirmed the accusations against Richard Gloucester.

Edward and Elizabeth’s secret wedding played a cruel joke on the woman. The king’s younger brother stated that before marrying Elizabeth, Edward was engaged to Lady Elizabeth Tablot. Thus, the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was not legal, and therefore all Edward’s children were considered bastards and could not claim the throne. Richard usurped power and proclaimed himself King Richard III, depriving Elizabeth of all her lands. Elizabeth and her daughters again had to seek shelter. In opposing Richard III, Elizabeth Woodville allied herself with another extraordinary woman of the Middle Ages, Margaret Beaufort, to recognise her son Henry’s claim to the throne of England.

In 1485, Henry defeated Richard III’s army at the Battle of Bosworth. King Richard died, and Henry proclaimed himself the new monarch. He took as his wife the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV - Elizabeth of York, thereby ending the Wars of the Red and White Roses once and for all, uniting the two flowers on his family coat of arms. Thus, the Tudor dynasty ascended the throne of England.

Death

King Henry IV Tudor restored Elizabeth to the lands she had received during the reign of Edward IV. At the end of her life, Elizabeth Woodville retired to Bermondsey Abbey, where she spent the last five years of her life in peace and quiet. It is said that the Queen Dowager was placed in the abbey by her own son-in-law, King Henry IV, fearing a plot by Elizabeth against him. However, many historians are of the opinion that Elizabeth Woodville went to the abbey of her own free will, wishing to spend the rest of her life in prayer and service to God. Elizabeth Woodville died on 8 June 1492 (presumably of the plague). Her last will was to be buried next to her husband Edward IV at Windsor in St George’s Chapel. And King Henry honoured this request.

English Queen

Edward IV wanted to marry a woman from his own people. And he did not fail. English history knows more than one foreign queen. William the Conqueror’s wife Queen Consort Matilda of Normandy, the “French She-Wolf,” Queen Isabella, and Margaret of Anjou, who fought for the crown of England - all these were women predatory, ambitious and wilful, speaking a foreign language and having their own, strange for the English people, habits. Against their background Elizabeth Woodville favourably differed, embodying the virtues of the mediaeval English woman. She did not interfere in the affairs of state of her husband, was a pious, exemplary wife and a loving fertile mother who gave Edward 10 children.

Legacy

Elizabeth Woodville is an ancestor of many British monarchs. She is the grandmother of King Henry VIII of England, and great-grandmother of Mary I of Blood, Edward VI, and Elizabeth I Tudor. Among her descendants are Queen Mary Stuart of Scotland, Lady Jane Grey, better known as the “Queen of Nine Days.”

Traces in pop-culture

Lena Headey depicting the character of Cersei Lannister, on HBO’s *Game of Thrones*

The bright and in some places tragic fate of Elizabeth Woodville fell into the spotlight of writers and filmmakers. This amazing woman has featured in a lot of films and TV series. Perhaps one of the most iconic phenomena of pop-culture was the series “The White Queen,” where the role of Elizabeth Woodville was performed by actress Rebecca Ferguson.

Rumour has it that George R.R. Martin, author of the “Game of Thrones” series of books, borrowed some of Elizabeth Woodville’s features when creating the character of Cersei Lannister. The famous Englishwoman gave the book heroine a classic beauty that captivates men. The similarity of the Woodvilles with the Lannister’s can be traced in the way the queen’s numerous relatives received new titles and power.

The Monarchs: Elizabeth Woodville, the Dragon-Eyed Queen