Anne Neville

Anne Neville
Drawing from the Rous Roll, c. 1483
Queen consort of England
Tenure	26 June 1483 – 16 March 1485
Coronation	6 July 1483
Born	11 June 1456 Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England
Died	16 March 1485(1485-03-16) (aged 28) Palace of Westminster, London, England
Burial	25 March 1485 Westminster Abbey, London, England
Spouses	Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales ​ ​ (m. 1470; died 1471)​ Richard III, King of England ​ ​ (m. 1472)​
Issue	Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales
House	Neville
Father	Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
Mother	Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick

Anne Neville (11 June 1456 – 16 March 1485) was Queen of England from 26 June 1483 until her death in 1485 as the wife of King Richard III. She was the younger of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (the "Kingmaker"). Before her marriage to Richard, she had been Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, the only son and heir apparent of King Henry VI.

As a member of the powerful House of Neville, Anne played a critical part in the Wars of the Roses fought between the houses of York and Lancaster for the English crown. Her father betrothed her as a girl to Prince Edward, the only son of the ousted King Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.^[1] The marriage was to seal an alliance with the Lancastrians and halt the Wars of the Roses. ^[1]

After the death of Prince Edward and defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Anne married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of King Edward IV and of George, Duke of Clarence, the husband of Anne's elder sister Isabel. Richard was also Anne's first cousin once removed; her great-aunt, Cecily Neville, was Richard's mother. Anne became queen when Richard acceded to the throne in June 1483, following the declaration that Edward IV's children by Elizabeth Woodville were illegitimate. Anne predeceased her husband by five months, dying in March 1485. Her only child, Edward of Middleham, died in 1484 at the age of seven.