In 1456, on this day Lady Anne Neville (pictured) was born at Warwick Castle.

Kingmaker's Daughter
article by Jackie SpeelHer father "Warwick the Kingmaker" was widely considered the wealthiest and most powerful English peer of his age. To further his own political agenda, he used his daughter's hand in marriage as a political pawn during the early phase of the dynastic civil wars. But in the event, his machinations actually led to a union. And the binding settlement between the houses of York and Lancaster ensured that the "War of the Roses" never got fully going.

Because at the tender age of fourteen she was betrothed to the only son of King Henry VI of England and Margaret of Anjou. However the plan almost backfired from the outset. The Prince of Wales, Edward of Westminster who was only seventeen himself, very nearly perished at the close-fought Battle of Tewkesbury.

Fortunately, the Lancastrians managed to survive an early rout. Thereafter she bore him a daughter who would eventually become the Queen to the Yorkist monarch, King Edward V.