Anne Neville

Who was Anne Neville?

Lady Anne Neville was an English queen, the daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. She became Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward of Westminster and then Queen of England as the wife of King Richard III.

As a member of the powerful House of Neville, she was caught up in the Wars of the Roses fought between the House of York and House of Lancaster for the English crown. Her father Warwick betrothed her as a girl to Edward, Prince of Wales, the son of Henry VI. The marriage was to seal an alliance to the House of Lancaster and continue the civil war between the two houses of Lancaster and York.

After the death of Edward, the Dowager Princess of Wales married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV and of George, Duke of Clarence, the husband of Anne Neville's older sister Isabel. Anne Neville became queen when Richard III ascended the throne in June 1483, following the declaration that Edward IV's children by Elizabeth Woodville were illegitimate. Anne Neville predeceased her husband by five months, dying in March 1485. Her only child was Edward of Middleham, who predeceased her.