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Katherine Plantagenet, Lady of Huntingdon, and Illegitimate Daughter of Richard III.

[Little is known about Katherine Plantagenet, Illegitimate daughter of Richard III, but what is known will be found here.]

[Early Life]

[Family]

[Betrothal]

[Marriage]

[Imprisonment]

[Death]

[Legacy]

[References]

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Early Life.

Born in Monmouthshire, Wales in march of 1468, to Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester and either Alice Burgh, Anne Harrington, or Katherine Haute, Katherine spent most of her childhood in the North of Wales with her mother until 1481, when it is supposed that her mother died of a sickness or in childbirth, having married a Northern Lord. Katherine and her brother John were then sent to Middleham Castle, in the North of England, where their father and stepmother, Anne Neville, then raised them. Katherine grew up in a tumultuous world where power and monarchy ruled.

Marriage and family relationships.

Katherine's father was Richard Plantagenet, the young Duke of Gloucester (The later Richard III of England) and her mother is unknown, though many believe her to be one of these three women:

Katherine Haute.

Anne Harrington.

or

Alice Burgh.

All women were granted an annuity of a hundred gold crowns in 1468.

Katherine's grandfather was Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and the claimant to the throne of England. The Duke was killed along with his son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, at the bloody battle of Wakefield, on December 30, 1460. Her grandmother was Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, now the dowager Duchess. Katherine's Uncles were, the King of England, Edward IV, who rose to power on the 4th of March, 1461. Katherine would have been in Monmouthshire at the time, but would have heard about her Uncle's victory and coronation. Her other Uncle was the notoriously fickle, George, Duke of Clarence, who would subsequently turn his back on his brothers and turn to treachery, culminating in his death in the Tower of London on February 18, 1478 on orders of the King, his brother, Edward IV. By 1478, Katherine had come to court, but as some theory's state, that after staying at court for a month or two in 1467, she traveled with Margaret, her Aunt, to Burgundy as a lady in waiting, when Margaret married Charles "The Bold" Duke of Burgundy, and that she could not have been at court in 1478, and also that she was not in fact known as Richard's daughter at the time. She was not present when, in 1472 her father married Lady Anne Neville, the now Dowager Princess of England. Circumstances place her in Monmouthshire at the time with her mother and younger brother John (Also known as John of Pontefract or Gloucester)

Her Uncles and Aunts are as follows:

Edward of March (Edward IV)

John Plantagenet

Edmund of Rutland

George of Clarence

Margaret of York (of Burgundy)

Anne (St. Leger)

Ursula Plantagenet

Mary Plantagenet

and many others.

[Betrothal]

In early 1483 Katherine was betrothed to her cousin John De la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, but the betrothal was called off when William Herbert asked Katherine's father for her hand. It is unclear what Katherine's feelings were about John De la Pole or her betrothal to the much older William Herbert.

At the young age of sixteen, Katherine was married to the widowed William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, on the 29th of February, 1484. William was twenty-nine years her senior at the time of their marriage. It is unknown if she had any children with him, for at her death, her husband's heir was his daughter Elizabeth from his first marriage to Mary Woodville, a niece of the queen, Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort to Edward IV.

[Imprisonment]

On the orders of Henry VII, Katharine was arrested at Raglan Castle immediately after the Battle of Stoke Field in June 1487 and apparently died there in poverty. Her brother John was arrested and executed on Tower Hill, with his cousin, Edward, Earl of Warwick and the "Pretender" Perkin Warbeck, on 28 November 1499 and was the last Plantagenet heir.

[Death]

There is speculation about Katherine's untimely death at the age of twenty, however, it is known that she died in the Tower of London. Many believe she fell ill and succumbed to the sweating sickness brought to England by the Welsh invaders fighting her father. Others believe she was poisoned on orders of the new King, Henry VII Tudor. She was buried in St James Garlickhythe Churchyard Greater London, England.

[Legacy]

A mystery in and of herself, Katherine still manages to haunt the shadows of the historical mind, not much is known about her, leaving people to wonder who really was Katherine Plantagenet. Her role in history has been largely forgotten due to insufficient historical records, leaving us to wonder.

[References]

The Ricardian’ 2014 has this article:’The Plantagenet in the Parish: the burial of Richard III’s daughter in medieval London’ by Christian Steer (pp 63-73). A 16th century herald from the College of Arms listed some 900 monuments in London churches. In St James Garlickhithe he noted ‘the countesse of huntyngdon ladie Herbert wtout a stone’. Ironically, in a way, he also noted the burial of several members of the Stanley family in the same church.

http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=100729238

http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_86.html