OTD 14 September

1495 - Elizabeth Tudor died

Elizabeth was the second daughter & fourth child of king Henry VII of England & Elizabeth of York, & sister to Henry VIII.

Elizabeth's father King Henry VII

Elizabeth was born on 2 July 1492 at Sheen Palace in Surrey (the Palace was later rebuilt by her father as Richmond Palace, the remains of which are now part of Richmond-Upon-Thames, London).

The young royal spent much of her short life at the royal nursery of Eltham Palace, Kent, with her older siblings Margaret (later Queen of Scotland) & Henry (the future Henry VIII of England).

Elizabeth's oldest brother, Arthur, was heir to the English throne & lived separately in his own household. Just before Elizabeth's death, her father proposed a marriage alliance between Elizabeth & the French prince Francis, who later became king as Francis I of France.

Elizabeth died at Eltham Palace in Kent on 14 September 1495 at the age of three years & two months. She was brought from Eltham in state & buried on the north side of the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey on 27 September.

Elizabeth was the first of four of Henry and Elizabeth's children to die prematurely & they were devastated by their loss. Her funeral cost a large sum of £318 (£155,479.74 in today's money), & the king erected a small tomb to his daughter in the abbey made from Purbeck & black marble. On top of the monument is a finely polished slab of black Lydian, upon which were placed inscriptions to Elizabeth & her effigy of copper gilt, both of which have now disappeared with time. The Latin from the inscription can be translated:

Elizabeth, second child of Henry the Seventh King of England, France & Ireland & of the most serene lady Queen Elizabeth his consort, who was born on the second day of the month of July in the year of Our Lord 1492, & died on the 14th day of the month of September in the year of Our Lord 1495, upon whose soul may God have mercy. Amen.

The plate at the feet of Elizabeth's effigy is translated as:

Hereafter Death has a royal offspring in this tomb viz. the young & noble Elizabeth daughter of that illustrious prince, Henry the Seventh, who swayed the sceptre of two kingdoms, Attrapos, the most severe messenger of Death, snatched her away but may she have eternal life in Heaven.

The following year in 1496, Henry & Elizabeth had another daughter, Mary, who later became the Queen of France as the wife of Louis XII of France. Their final two children, Edmund (who died in 1500 at the age of 15 months) & her younger sister Katherine (who died in 1503 shortly after birth, her birth also cost the Queen her life) were laid to rest by young Elizabeth's side.

Elizabeth's mother Elizabeth of York

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Kings and Queens of England/Britain Poster (Landscape)

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1667 - Edgar Stuart was born

Edgar Stuart, Duke of Cambridge was the fourth son of James, Duke of York (later James II of England) & his first wife Anne Hyde (pictured left). He was born on 14 September 1667 at St James's Palace.He was second in the line of succession to the English & Scottish thrones for his entire lifespan.

Edgar On 7 October 1667 he was created Duke and Earl of Cambridge, & Baron of Dauntsey, Wiltshire. He died at Richmond Palace on 8 June 1671 & buried in Westminster Abbey on 12 June 1671.

DID YOU KNOW? The town of Edgartown, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard is named in his honour.

Edgar's father James, Duke of York, later king James II

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