Mrs Elizabeth Plantagenet

• General Notes
  • As was typical of that day, British kings often had mistresses, and these women bore them children. However, in that more promiscuous time, these illegitimate children, while not in line for the throne, were known to be descended from the King and were often given titles. It was in this way that Elizabeth, born about 1464, came to be accepted as the daughter of King Edward IV and his mistress Elizabeth Wayte. While there is some confusion about her mother's name, it appears well estabished that Elizabeth Plantagenet was the King's daughter, and that she married Sir Thomas Lumley.
    
    Additional evidence of Elizabeth's parentage may be seen in the papal dispensation granted in 1489 for Elizabeth's son, Richard Lumley, to marry Anne Conyers, they being related in the [3rd and] 4th degree of kindred. A dispensation was needed for this marriage, as the two parties were both descended from Ralph Neville, K.G., 1st Earl of Westmorland, and his wife, Joan Beaufort (see Testamenta Eboracensia 3 (Surtees Soc., vol. 45) (1865): 355)].