Anne Neville: an unfortunate queen?

I didn't get a chance to write about Anne Neville on the actual anniversary of her birth, June 11th. But given that it happened 564 years ago, it seems like a minor miss. I have to say I have always found Anne rather fascinating and rather sad in some ways. So my focus, a day late, is the misfortune of Anne Neville.

A later imagining of Anne

I suppose as soon as I write the word 'misfortune' it seems a strange word to apply to a woman who was born into unimaginable wealth. There is no doubt that for most of her life, Anne lived more than comfortably. Born at Warwick Castle in 1456, her parents were one of the richest and most powerful couples in Europe. Her mother, Anne Beauchamp, had brought the bulk of the wealth to the family coffers. She had also inherited the title which would forever be attached to her husband's legend, Earl of Warwick. Anne Neville grew up in castles, protected from the poverty which was endemic in so many lives at the time. So there was no ongoing physical misfortune for Anne to negotiate but the very role into which she was born would lead to drama and sadness for this forgotten queen.

Birthplace of a queen: Warwick Castle was at the heart of political machinations when Anne arrived

(By DeFacto - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wiki Commons)

Anne was part of a political maelstrom from the moment of her birth. The conflict we call the Wars of the Roses were brewing up nicely as cousins fought for a crown. Her father, Richard, was carving a role as a kingmaker. Unsurprisingly, his ambitions went further than helping others to success. Warwick the Kingmaker had no sons. Anne and her older sister, Isabel, were therefore in line for a magnificent inheritance which made them much sought after brides. But the turbulent times and the quest for power which dominated so many noble lives at the time meant that their parents had greater aims for them than sensible, upper class matches.

Warwick, the Kingmaker and father of a queen

And that's perhaps where Anne's misfortune lies. In her childhood, Warwick considered marrying his daughters to the sons of the Duke of York who was moving closer to taking the throne for the House of the White Rose. Anne was intended for the youngest of the three boys, Richard. But once Warwick had helped put York's son on the throne as King Edward IV, marriage talk took a back seat. As the Wars of the Roses stirred into action once more, Warwick changed sides and that's where Anne's misfortune really takes hold. While Isabel was married to the middle York son, George, who rather fancied his chances of being king, Anne was left single. And when her father threw his backing behind the House of Lancaster, she found herself married off to its heir, Edward of Westminster. The only son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, he was far from charming. He was also the figurehead of the losing side. Anne married him in late 1470, when she was just 14, and by the time of her 15th birthday, she was already a widow. 

Edward IV kept a tight reign on power after regaining the throne in 1471

At that point, her life turns into a rather good romantic novel but a rather unfortunate experience to live through. Like her husband, her father had been killed in battle and she was now an even greater prize on the marriage market as one of the co-heirs to the Warwick estate. Her sister was in line for the other share and her husband rather liked the idea of having the whole inheritance, rather than half. Their mother was in sanctuary and Anne was, by marriage, part of the House of Lancaster who were now outcasts. At the mercy of victorious powers, it is said that Anne ended up being hidden as a servant in a cookshop by George to stop his younger brother, Richard, marrying her. Whatever the truth, Richard of York did track down Anne Neville and the two got married in 1472 with the groom promising to give  up much of his wife's claim to her family's wealth.

Middleham Castle in Yorkshire where Richard and Anne spent the happiest years of their marriage when he was Governor of the North

(By CJW - CJW, Attribution, Wiki Commons)

I'd call that a good dose of misfortune. Her life had been in peril, she was stripped of family support and her new husband had to give up her wealth to marry her. However, Richard and Anne appear to have been happy together and they had a son, Edward. They also began to accrue more power and wealth. George was executed for treason in 1478 by Edward IV and when the king died, unexpectedly, in 1483, they found themselves on the cusp of power. Richard took the new boy king, Edward V, into custody along with his younger brother, another Richard. Soon after, he had them and all their sisters declared illegitimate and he took the throne. Anne Neville, the cookshop bride, was now Queen of England.

Anne with her husband and son

It was a far from happy reign. Putting aside the traumas that had occurred in the years running up to her accession, she sat on a throne that was once more the target of many. Richard had seized power and had some support but loyalties were fiercely divided once more. England's nobility began to look to their own family trees once again for a chance of power. When Richard and Anne's son died suddenly in 1484, the couple were devastated. And without an heir, they were also in peril as cousins jockeyed for position. Anne became a focus for gossip. She had had just one child and hadn't been pregnant for over a decade. If she couldn't bear another Prince of Wales, then would the king find someone else who could?

Richard III's image as king is nearly always solitary

Anne's own health was failing. It's perhaps another element of her tale of misfortune that she always seems slightly older in the telling of it than she really was. I have always thought of Anne as approaching middle age which, by the context of the times, perhaps she was. But when she died, on March 16th 1485 at Westminster, she was only 28 years old. She was a young woman, really, but almost immediately consigned to the role of older has been. For in the early part of that year, rumours had already begun to circulate that Richard intended to dispense with his wife to marry his pretty niece, Elizabeth of York, who was ten years younger than Anne. 

Elizabeth of York would become Queen of England on her marriage to Richard's conqueror, Henry Tudor

Anne hadn't been dead two weeks before her husband swore publicly that he grieved her greatly and had no intention of marrying his brother's daughter. However, documents found later show that Richard had begun negotiations to wed a Portugeuse princess between Anne's death in March 1485 and his own at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22nd 1485. As soon as the Tudors had their hands on the crown, Anne was forgotten. Her grave at Westminster Abbey was without a marker until 1960.

Anne, Queen of England, 1483 - 1485

It is another sad element of a story I have always found unfortunate. Anne may never have really wanted for anything material but over half her life was spent in tumult. They were turbulent times and she was at the heart of them. But perhaps it's time to pay more attention to this forgotten royal whose wealth and power was worthy of fighting for - Anne, Queen of England.