Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales

Also known as: Edward of Westminster / Edward, prince of Wales / Prince / hir sonne prince Edward / yoong prince · Family: House of Lancaster · Role: prince · First appears: Henry VI 48

Edward of Westminster was born and christened at Westminster in c. 1453, the son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. His birth was accompanied by doubts about his paternity, as his mother faced claims that Henry VI could not father a child: “His mother susteined not a little slander and obloquie of the common people”. The material also places him within the royal descent involving Richard II, Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, and John of Gaunt.

After the northern victory at saint Albons in c. 1461, he was reunited with Henry VI, who received him and Margaret of Anjou warmly, and he was knighted by his father. In c. 1470, Edward married Anne Neville in France, joining him to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and their allies George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, and John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. They swore to continue the war until Henry VI or Edward regained the crown; Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick, John Wenlock, Baron Wenlock, and Margaret of Anjou also joined his cause. At Louis XI’s request, Edward was married.

In c. 1471, Edward landed at Weimouth with Margaret of Anjou and their supporters. At Teukesburie, while fleeing toward the town, he was captured by Richard Crofts and kept close. He was opposed by Edward IV, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, Richard III, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and William Hastings, Baron Hastings; after Edward’s capture, an alternative account says that Henry VI learned his son and other chief supporters were dead and died from grief on 23 May 1471.