Blanche of Lancaster

Blanche of Lancaster
Duchess of Lancaster
Blanche of Lancaster and John of Gaunt on their tomb monument in St Paul's Cathedral, as depicted in 1658 by Wenceslaus Hollar. Anachronistic inaccuracies include Blanche's early-16th-century-style gable headdress
Born	25 March 1345/1347 Bolingbroke Castle, Lincolnshire
Died	12 September 1368 Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire
Burial	St Paul's Cathedral, London
Spouse	John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Issue more...	Philippa, Queen of Portugal Elizabeth, Duchess of Exeter Henry IV Bolingbroke, King of England
House	Plantagenet
Father	Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
Mother	Isabel de Beaumont

Blanche of Lancaster (25 March 1345/1347 – 12 September 1368) was a member of the English royal House of Plantagenet and the daughter of the kingdom's wealthiest and most powerful peer, Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster. She was the first wife of John of Gaunt, the mother of King Henry IV, and the grandmother of King Henry V of England.

Blanche is said to have been born on 25 March 1345, although the year 1347 has also been suggested.

She was the younger daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his wife Isabel de Beaumont. She and her elder sister Maud, Countess of Leicester, were born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lindsey. Maud married Ralph de Stafford and then William I, Duke of Bavaria; however, Maud did not have children so her younger sister inherited their father's titles and estates.

On 19 May 1359, at Reading Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, Blanche married her third cousin, John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III. The whole royal family was present at the wedding, and the King gave Blanche expensive gifts of jewellery.

The title Duke of Lancaster became extinct upon her father's death without male heirs in 1361. However, John of Gaunt became Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Derby, Earl of Lincoln and Earl of Leicester (although Gaunt did not receive all of these titles until the death of Blanche's older sister, Maud, in 1362) as he was married to Blanche. The Duchy of Lancaster (second creation) was later bestowed on Gaunt. The influence associated with the titles would lead him to become Lord High Steward of England.