The birth of Edward, Prince of Wales, on 13th October 1453, was cause for national celebration. It almost seemed a miracle, as his parents, Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, had been married over eight years before in 1445. However, at the time of his birth his father was suffering his second ‘attack of insanity.’ It was his mother who was to prove the strong influence in his life and who would be his inspiration.
The Wars of the Roses
Upon Henry VI’s recovery in early 1455, he had to be introduced to his baby son. Edward’s strong but unpopular mother would now take management of the kingdom, especially as a new rebellion had begun, headed by the Duke of York. This war was to last thirty years and would be referred to by historians as the Wars of the Roses. Margaret’s efforts on behalf of her husband and son were ‘indefatigable,’ but were ‘doomed to failure.’ Her husband’s lack of will must have particularly exasperated Margaret. On 29th March 1461, the final defeat came when the Duke of York’s heir, his nineteen year old son Richard, defeated Margaret’s forces at the Battle of St Albans.
Henry VI Is Deposed
Aged only seven years old, Edward must have been only vaguely aware of the events which were shaping his destiny. Edward was to accompany his mother to France, to what must have seemed a permanent exile from his kingdom. His father was to flee to Scotland, where after a failed rising in 1464, he was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London by the new King, Edward IV. Meanwhile Edward lived in ‘reduced circumstances’ for the next few years. All was soon to change though in 1470 when Margaret made an ally of her former enemy, the Earl of Warwick, who had recently fallen out with Edward IV. They gathered an army and on 3rd October, 1470, Henry VI was finally restored to his throne and released from the Tower of London.
Restoration Of Henry VI: End Of The House Of Lancater
Not quite seventeen Edward was now re-instated as Prince of Wales, and was accompanied back to England with his new bride, Anne Neville, Warwick’s youngest daughter. The young couple were not allowed to consummate their union, however, until the restoration was complete. The restoration turned out to be short lived, as the Edward IV was already gathering his forces in exile. The definitive battle came at The Battle of Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471, when Edward IV finally defeated the Lancastrian forces.
The young Prince of Wales fought bravely for his father’s crown and for his own inheritance but he was brutally killed by the Edward IV’s younger brother, the eighteen year old Richard, Duke of Gloucester. This was none other than the future tyrant, Richard III. Edward could therefore be claimed to be Richard III’s first victim. Within days his father was also killed by the Duke of Gloucester, and his mother was incarcerated in the Tower. Ironically, Edward’s fifteen year old widow, Anne, was to be married within the year to her husband’s murderer and would become another of Richard III’s victims.
If Edward had lived, could this ‘promising young prince’ have changed the course of history? At seventeen he was ready to defend his country and his father’s crown against the common enemy, but the seeds of discontent which his father had sewn in the preceding decades were against this young prince and eventually led to his early demise.
Sources:
Hilliam, David., Kings, Queen, Bones and Bastards, Sutton Publishing, 1998.
Hilliam, David., Monarch's, Murders & Mistresses, Sutton Publishing, 2000.
Williamson, David., Kings & Queen of Great Britain, The Promotional Reprint Company, 1991.
