Henry VII from birth at Pembroke Castle to coronation

Here we look at the life of the Pembrokeshire born king of England – Henry VII.

Henry VII was born Harri Tudur in Pembroke Castle on January 28, 1457, to parents Edmund Tudor, first Earl of Richmond and Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. He was born in a tower of the castle overlooking Westgate.

Henry VII

His father Edmund Tudor, half-brother to King Henry VI, died a few months before his birth fighting against Richard of York's men and his mother Margaret – believed to have been 13 years old – was taken in by her brother-in-law Jasper, who was given the castle and the earldom of Pembroke in 1447.

Jasper Tudor looked after his young nephew who had a slight claim to the throne of England through both his mother and father. In 1461, Pembroke Castle was seized by Lord Herbert after the death of Henry V and Jasper fled to Brittany. The new king was Edward IV, who became the feudal lord due to Henry's age at the time. The following year, Lord Herbert bought the guardianship of Henry, who remained in Pembroke Castle with the Herberts.

Pembroke Castle, birthplace of Henry VII. Picture: Zoe McLuckie

Henry’s claims to the throne came from his paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor, who was a Squire to the Body of the King after his military service during the Battle of Agincourt. He secretly married Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V, and their son Edmund, Henry VII’s father, was declared legitimate by Parliament and given the title Earl of Richmond in 1452.

Margaret however, provided the stronger claim to the throne for her son. Her great-grandfather John of Gaunt was the fourth son of King Edward III and his third wife Katherine Swynford. By the time the couple married in 1396, they had four children including John of Gaunt, who in reality was an illegitimate heir until Richard II legitimised the four children by Letters Patent in 1397.

MORE NEWS:

• Pembrokeshire pictures: Stunning images from across the county 
• Can you help get Indy the alpaca on the move again?

Just a decade later, Henry IV, Gaunt’s son by his first wife, confirmed their legitimacy but declared his half-siblings ineligible for the throne.

In 1471, Henry VII and his uncle fled to Brittany and lived in exile. 12 years later, Henry VII was the senior male Lancastrian claimant to the throne following the death of his uncle Henry VI (son of his grandmother Catherine of Valois and her husband King Henry V) and his son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.

In 1483, Henry pledged to marry Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter of Edward IV, the heir to the throne after the presumed death of her brothers Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury. By this time, Henry’s mother had been actively promoting her son as an alternative to Richard III.

Statue of Henry VII in Pembroke. Picture: Karen Morris

Henry tried to land in England with money and supplies borrowed from his host Francis II of Brittany but this plan was foiled, leading to the execution of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, his primary co-conspirator. Richard III tried to extradite Henry from Brittany but he escaped to France where he was supplied with troops and equipment for another invasion.

After gaining support of the Woodvilles, in-laws of his late father-in-law to-be, he sailed across to England with a small French and Scottish force and landed at Mill Bay in Pembrokeshire. He was supported by the Welsh people due to his birth and ancestry – said to be a descendant of Cadwaladr. As he marched towards England, he was accompanied by his uncle Jasper and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford and an army of between 5-6,000 soldiers.

On August 22, 1485, Henry and his forces defeated Richard III’s York army at the Battle of Bosworth, ending the War of the Roses with the death of Richard III. Henry also then became Henry VII, King of England.

Henry VII’s coronation took place at Westminster Abbey on October 30, 1485, and he married Elizabeth of York the following year. In September 1846, the couple welcomed their first son Arthur, Prince of Wales. They went on to have seven more children including Henry VIII, but only four of the eight survived past childhood.

Next week, we will look more at Henry VII’s reign until his 1509 death.