Lady Isabel Neville | |
---|---|
Duchess of Clarence | |
Born |
Warwick Castle |
5 September 1451
Died | 22 December 1476 | (aged 25)
Spouse | George, 1st Duke of Clarence |
Issue | Anne of York Margaret, Countess of Salisbury Edward, Earl of Warwick Richard of York |
Father | Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick |
Mother | Lady Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick |
Lady Isabel Neville (5 September 1451 – 22 December 1476) was the elder daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (the Kingmaker of the Wars of the Roses), and Anne de Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick. She was the wife of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence. She was also the elder sister of Anne Neville, who was Princess of Wales, by her first marriage and Queen consort of England by her second.
Isabel Neville was born at Warwick Castle, the seat of the Earls of Warwick. In 1469, her ambitious father betrothed her to England's heir presumptive, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, the brother of both King Edward IV and Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III). The king opposed the marriage as it would bring the already powerful Earl of Warwick too close to the throne. The ceremony however took place in secret at Calais on 11 July 1469, conducted by Isabel Neville's Uncle George Neville, archbishop of York. Following their marriage Clarence joined forces with Warwick and allied with the Lancastrians led by Margaret of Anjou, queen consort to Henry VI. After Isabel Neville's sister Anne was married to Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, the son and heir of Henry VI, Clarence rejoined his brother, realizing that it was now unlikely that he would become king.