Elizabeth Woodville "The White Queen" Postcard

Elizabeth Woodville (also spelled Wydville, Wydeville or Widvile;[nb 1] c. 1437[1] – 8 June 1492) was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Her family, at the time of her birth was mid-ranked in the English aristocracy and her first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, Sir John Grey of Groby, who died at the Second Battle of St Albans, leaving Elizabeth a widowed mother of two sons. Her second marriage, to Edward IV, was a cause célèbre of the day, thanks to Elizabeth's great beauty, lack of great estates and being English yet still becoming queen, and she seized upon it to become a key figure in the ongoing dynastic civil wars now known as the Wars of the Roses. Edward was only the second King of England since the Norman Conquest to have married one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned Queen.[nb 2] Her marriage greatly enriched her siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, 'The Kingmaker' and his various alliances with the most senior figures in the increasingly divided Royal Family. [via Wikipedia]