Richard III of England - Succession

Succession

Following the decisive Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, Richard had married the younger daughter of the Earl of Warwick, Anne Neville, on 12 July 1472. Anne's first husband had been Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI, who died at Tewkesbury.

Richard and Anne had one son, born in 1473, Edward of Middleham, who died (April 1484) not long after being created Prince of Wales. Richard also had two acknowledged illegitimate children: John of Gloucester, also known as "John of Pontefract", and a daughter Katherine who married William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke in 1484. Michael Hicks and Josephine Wilkinson have suggested that Katharine's mother may have been Katherine Haute, on the basis of the grant of an annual payment of 100 shillings made to her in 1477. The Haute family was related to the Woodvilles through the marriage of Elizabeth Woodville's aunt, Joan Woodville to Sir William Haute. One of their children was Richard Haute, Controller of the Prince's Household. Their daughter, Alice, married Sir John Fogge; they were ancestors to queen consort Catherine Parr, sixth wife of King Henry VIII. They also suggest that John's mother may have been Alice Burgh. Richard visited Pontefract from 1471, in April and October 1473, and in early March 1474 for a week. On 1 March 1474 he granted Alice Burgh £20 a year for life "for certain special causes and considerations". She later received another allowance, apparently for being engaged as nurse for Clarence's son, Edward of Warwick. Richard continued her annuity when he became king.

Both of Richard's illegitimate children survived him, but they seem to have died without issue. Katharine was almost certainly arrested at Raglan Castle immediately after the Battle of Stoke Field in June 1487 and John was executed in 1491, both on the orders of Henry VII. Katharine apparently died before her cousin Elizabeth of York's coronation on 25 November 1487. The mysterious Richard Plantagenet is also a possible illegitimate child of Richard III and is sometimes referred to as "Richard the Master-Builder". He died in 1550.

At the time of his last stand against the Lancastrians, Richard was a widower without a legitimate son. After his son's death, he had initially named his nephew Edward, Earl of Warwick, Clarence's young son and the nephew of Queen Anne Neville, as his heir. After Anne's death, however, Richard named another nephew, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, the son of his older sister Elizabeth. However, he was also negotiating with John II of Portugal to marry his sister, Joanna, a pious young woman who had already turned down several suitors because of her preference for the religious life.