Elizabeth Woodvillewas the first child of Sir Richard Woodville(later the first Earl Rivers) and Jaquetta of Luxembourg. Her first marriage (ca. 1452) was to Sir John Grey of Groby(died in battle 1461), with whom she had two sons. She secretly married King Edward IVof England in April 1464, and was crowned Queen in May 1465. Two months earlier she had become patroness of the College “as true foundress by right of succession.” She gave the College its first Statutes in 1475. She and Edward had ten children, two of whom were to become the Princes in the Tower.
The portrait of her shown here is probably a multiple-generation copy of one taken from life. The College has several versions in differing states. She is shown posed in the high fashion of the day, with strained back hair and a partial veil.
Queens’ had been founded first by Margaret, a Lancastrian queen, then refounded by Elizabeth, a Yorkist queen, thus surviving the Wars of the Roses.
The connection with her is remembered in the name Woodville Room given to the MCR at Queens’.
The Arms of Elizab •
Elizabeth Woodville, the ‘White Queen’
A central figure in the War of the Roses, Elizabeth Woodville found herself on both the winning and losing side, as the battle between the Yorkist supporters and Lancastrians directly impacted not only her time as Queen consort but the fate of her two young sons known as “the Princes in the Tower”.
Elizabeth Woodville was born in 1437 at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire and was the eldest daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and his wife, Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Whilst her father’s family were respectable and wealthy, they were not of the nobility, something which would prove to become an obstacle for Elizabeth’s marriage to King Edward IV. Meanwhile, her mother was from an aristocratic family; as the daughter of Peter I of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, she also was widow to John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford (making her aunt to Henry VI). With such royal connections and lineage, Jacquetta was one of the most socially well-ranked women in England at the time.
As a result, Jacquetta’s marriage to Richard Woodville
•
Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen
Elizabeth Woodville
Family Elizabeth Woodville was one of 13 children born to Richard Woodville (later named Baron Rivers) and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, widow of Henry V's brother John, Duke of Bedford. So, though the Woodville family certainly had connections Elizabeth was not considered nobility, a fact which would come to be quite significant later in her life. We do not know the exact date of her birth; all we can say for certain is that it was around 1437 and that she was born in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire.
First Marriage In 1452 Elizabeth married Sir John Grey of Groby. Together they had two sons. Sir John was a supporter of the Lancastrian cause, and died fighting at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461 against the Yorkist leader, Edward, Duke of York. With the tide of the Wars of the Roses turning to the Yorkist cause, Woodville was an outcast. Her husband's lands were seized by the crown, and she was forced to live with her parents at Grafton.
Marriage to Edward IV But fate took a hand. Edward was hunting near Graft