Queen Anne Neville (Faye Marsey in the BBC adaptation of The White Queen) - she wasn't the Queen Anne that Elizabeth Woodville planned to follow her
Edward IV and Elizabeth were no slouches when it came to attempting to find royal spouses for their children. The fact that Edward died before any of these weddings came to pass leaves a tantilising 'what if' - what if the Woodvilles had managed to marry into a spate of European dynasties? Their success in infiltrating the Yorkist court and policy development was all but complete by the time Edward died and their strength and influence so feared that many nobles of England were happy to support Richard III against them, at least initially. The idea of Elizabeth with a representative at courts around the continent offered the possibility of a Woodville conquest of Europe. And to crown it all, one of her daughters was promised in marriage to the heir to the Holy Roman Empire itself. She was on the brink of potential greatness when her husband's death sent her into sanctuary.
Elizabeth won one crown for herself but had tried to obtain marriages with several other European royal families for her children
But what of those greatest prizes of all, the sons of the king? It seems that as well as a bit of blue blood, their parents wanted rich wives for their princes. And rich meant mega bucks. There were to be no poor but noble wives like Henry I's first spouse, Edith Dunkeld, or solely strategic matches like Edward I's second marriage to Marguerite of France. The boys were going to marry money and then some. The fact that the wives their parents chose had titles and aristocratic ancestors was an added bonus.
Elizabeth, queen of England, wasn't going to settle for down at heel daughters in law. Her boys were going to marry better than any English heirs before them
Perhaps the queen was wise to the power that a family with ambition but not a huge amount of money needed from the crown if they were to marry it. Her mother was wealthy from her time as Duchess of Bedford and from the revenue she received as widow of a royal duke but her father's family had been comfortable but not overly rich nobles from Northamptonshire. When Elizabeth won the heart of the king beneath an oak tree near her family home, she secured their fortunes and they made the most of the opportunity. There was little chance of this ambitious woman allowing another pretty girl to do the same to her sons.
Charm and beauty got Elizabeth Woodville a long way and she was ready for anyone brave enough to repeat the trick on her own sons
So marriages needed to be arranged and fast and the sons of a king whose realm was now at peace were attractive offerings on the continent. But Edward and Elizabeth looked closer to home for the first betrothal. They held out for something huge for their eldest, the Prince of Wales. meanwhile, their second surviving boy, Richard, married at the age of four and a bit. In January 1478 he wed Anne de Mowbray who was all of five years of age and one of the wealthiest people in England. Her wealth was colossal and she also brought her new husband several titles to add to his dukedom of York.
Edward IV, King of England gobbled up most of the good marriages to be made for royalty in medieval Europe but annoyed so many people that no one stuck by his family when his sudden death made them vulnerable to attack
But it was another Anne who Elizabeth marked out to get the top prize. The royal couple went after Anne of Brittany as a bride for their eldest son, the Prince of Wales. This Anne had even more cash than the girl marked out to be her sister in law and she was also the only heir to the strategically important area of Brittany. The marriage contract agreed between Edward and Anne's father, Francis, would have made the English royal house rich and given them a great foothold on the continent. It might also have opened up the prospect of further war - the king of France, Louis, was desperate to get his hands on the duchy and the marriage between Edward of Wales and Anne of Brittany would have been a huge strategic blow to him. But then Edward liked war and he was good at it. When the marriage was agreed he was 38 and still young enough to fight, or believe he could. But the alliances drawn up by the king for his other children, including that gem of a wedding for Anne of York with the boy marked out to be the successor of Charlemagne, meant that Louis might not fancy his chances against the increasingly powerful English king.
Edward may have done the talking but there's little doubt that Elizabeth was in the background helping with decisions - especially those linked to their children
In the three years between the agreement being made and Edward's death, very little happened towards bringing these power players of the future together. Edward, Prince of Wales continued his education under the supervision of his uncle, Anthony Woodville, while Anne continued her learning at the court of her father. But both Edward and Elizabeth could wait - when Anne's father died, she would be he richest woman in Europe and all that money would be coming their way as she became Princess of Wales and ultimately, Queen of England.
Anne of Brittany, the girl chosen by Edward IV and Elizabeth as the future queen consort of England
By the summer of 1480 Elizabeth and Edward had the future of England's royal family, and much of those in Europe, pretty much sewn up. And thanks to the two Annes that they had chosen as wives for their sons, the depleted royal treasury would be boosted while their son would control more of the continent than any English king for decades. And then it all started to go wrong. Anne de Mowbray died in 1481, aged eight, and with her marriage unconsummated. Therefore her heir wasn't her husband but two close kinsmen, Viscount Berkeley and Lord Howard, but they got nothing while all her wealth and all her land went to Richard and ultimately his parents. Viscount Berkeley had his debts pardoned but Lord Howard got nothing at all. And the bitterness that caused would come back to haunt the queen within two years when Edward died and those who feared her power and resented her wealth gathered together to attack.
Elizabeth entered sanctuary in 1471 to save her own life and that of the child she was carrying. That baby, Edward V, was promised in marriage to Anne of Brittany
The following year, Louis of France called off the marriage of his heir, Charles, to Elizabeth of York and the negotiations for Cecily of York to marry into the Scottish royal house began to disintegrate. The fragility of his house and its dependence on him for survival was never clearer in the weeks after his death when his widow and children were driven into sanctuary in the fight for the crown. And when Edward V disappeared in the summer of 1483 none of his alleged European allies asked where he had gone. The marriage contract with Anne of Brittany was forgotten about and Anne eventually married the now King Charles of France.
Elizabeth of York was meant to be queen consort of France but instead her little brother's former fiancée got that crown
Elizabeth always meant for the queen who followed her on the consort's throne to be called Anne and to bring lots of cash with her. She never imagined it would be the uber wealthy daughter of her great enemy, the Kingmaker, while she lived in Westminster Abbey in fear of her life.
Anne was the rightful Queen
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