The Secret Queen: Eleanor Talbot, the Woman Who Put Richard III on the Throne

A secret marriage, a disputed throne, and a hidden queen who changed the course of English history.

When Edward IV died in 1483, the Yorkist succession was called into question. Was Eleanor Talbot, the secret queen, the true wife of Edward IV? Or was Elizabeth Widville the rightful queen? John Ashdown-Hill argues that Eleanor Talbot was married to Edward IV, and that therefore Edward’s subsequent union with Elizabeth Widville was bigamous, making her children illegitimate.

In his quest to rev...