ELIZABETH Of YORK ( Tudor Queen )

Elizabeth of York was the eldest daughter, of Edward IV. , when she was six, her father was overthrown and fled for abroad for six months, while Elizabeth and her two sisters went into sanctuary at Westminster with their mother, Elizabeth Woodville, where their brother, the future Edward V. was born. Edward IV died in 1483: his Queen, suspicious of Richard of Gloucester, took her younger son and five daughters again into sanctuary at Westminster. It was about this time that, that the rebellion against her uncle started , negotiations were opened by the Dluke of Buckingham with Margaret Beaufort about a marriage between Elizabeth and Henry Tudor then in exile. Buckingham's rebellion failed, and the women, still in sanctuary, suffered from the loss of the protection of Bishop Lionel Woodville, who was forced to flee to France. A cordon of guards watched the Abbey day and night, their life became increasingly harsh, and in the spring of 1484 they were forced to surrender to Richard III.

Elizabeth - no doubt bearing in mind the disappearance of her two brothers - acquiesced in the declaration of her illegitimacy, and was permitted by her uncle a very small allowance and marriage to the bastard son of Bishop Stillington. Fortunately for her, he was shipwrecked on the coast of France.

Henry VII. victorious at Bosworth Field, was crowned King of England in his own right before honouring his arrangement with the Yorkist princess. They were married at Westminster Abbey on January 18, 1486, combining for ever the claims of the two royal houses, York and Lancaster.

Elizabeth was overshadowed for the rest of her life by two people: her husband the King, a man of organisational ability amounting to genius, and his mother, the brilliant and scholarly Margaret Beaufort. But these two strong characters meant that Elizabeth could devote far more than the normal amount of time to her children. Her eldest child - so vital to the continued peace of the country - was born in September, 1486, at Winchester and named Arthur, a reminder of Henrys Welsh ancestry. He was followed in 1489 by Margaret, later Queen of Scotland; in 1491 by Henry. later King Henry VIII ; and in 1492 by Mary, later Queen of France.

Henrys reign was troubled by rebellions in favour of other claimants to the throne, particularly the two imposters Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. It was in 1491 that Perkin Warbeck began his impersonation of Elizabeth's youngest brother. Richard of York. He went from France, to Scotland, to Ireland, and was accepted everywhere as the son of Edward IV. Even when he was captured and imprisoned in the Tower, Henry VII spared him for a further two years before finally having him executed. Elizaheth's mental suffering must have been acute during these years, but it is not known if she saw the imposter during his imprisonment.

Henry was not noted for his generosity, and though he gave his wife a sufficient income to maintain her position as Queen, he did not find it necessary to give her younger sisters an allowance. Her generosity to the poor was renowned, but her personal expenses were kept to a 'minimum, Though Henry is known as a cold and calculating man, and their marriage was obviously a political one, a genuine affection appears to have grown between the two.

There is a touching account of how, when their eldest son, Arthur, died at the age of fifteen, Henry broke the news to Elizabeth, and she with comfortable words", said to him, " my Lady your mother has never had more children but you only, and God has left you yet a fair prince and two fair princesses and God is where he is and we are both young enough"

She died the following year after giving birth to another daughter, helping, as always, to make the Tudor dynasty secure.