The author of The Mythology of the “Princes in the Tower” separates fact from fiction in this biography of an influential former queen of England.

Wife to Edward IV and mother to the Princes in the Tower and later Queen Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Widville was a central figure during the War of the Roses. Much of her life is shrouded in speculation and myth—even her name, commonly spelled “Woodville, ” is a hotly contested issue. In this fascinating and insightful biography, Dr. John Ashdown-Hill sheds light on the truth of her life.

Born in the turbulent fifteenth century, she was famed for her beauty and controversial second marriage to Edward IV, who she married just three years after he had displaced the Lancastrian Henry VI and claimed the English throne. As Queen Consort, Elizabeth’s rise from commoner to royalty continues to capture modern imagination. Undoubtedly, it enriched the position of her family. Her elevated position and influence invoked hostility from Richard Neville, the “Kingmaker, ” which later led to open discord and rebellion.

Throughout her life and even after the death of her husband, Elizabeth remained politically influential: briefly proclaiming her son King Edward V of England before he was deposed by her brother-in-law, the infamous Richard III, she would later play an important role in securing the succession of Henry Tudor in 1485 and his marriage to her daughter Elizabeth of York, thus and ending the War of the Roses.

An endlessly enigmatic, historical figure, Elizabeth Widville has been obscured by dramatizations and misconceptions. In Elizabeth Widville, Lady Grey, Ashdown-Hill attempts to set the record straight.