Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk
Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, later also Duchess of York and Duchess of Norfolk was an English noblewoman and the sole heiress of the Mowbray family. She became the child bride of Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower, in January 1478 when she was five years old. Through this marriage, her vast inheritance—including extensive lands and titles—was tied to the royal family by an act of Parliament of 1483, ensuring her estates remained under King Edward IV’s control through Richard. Anne died at the age of eight in Greenwich, London. Her early death meant her titles and estates were absorbed into the crown and redistributed under subsequent acts of Parliament, impacting the later dynastic settlement of her inheritance.
Heiress
Anne de Mowbray was born on 10 December 1472 at Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, the only surviving child of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Elizabeth Talbot, Duchess of Norfolk. Her birth made her the sole heiress to the vast Mowbray estates, one of the wealthiest inheritances in England at the time. Her maternal grandparents were John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and his second wife Lady Margaret Beauchamp, connecting her to two prominent noble families. The death of her father in January 1476, when Anne was only three years old, left her a wealthy heiress with extensive lands in Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond. As a minor without a male sibling, the crown assumed guardianship of her estates and appointed custodians to manage them until she came of age. This extraordinary status as an underage heiress made Anne a key figure in late 15th‑century dynastic politics and led to her marriage into the royal House of York as part of a strategy to bind her inheritance to the crown.Marriage
On 15 January 1478, when Anne de Mowbray was five years old, she was married at St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, to Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, who was four years old and the younger son of King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville. The marriage was arranged primarily to secure Anne's vast inheritance, linking her estates directly to the royal House of York.As part of the ceremony, Anne brought with her the title of Countess of Norfolk and the Mowbray family lands, which were among the largest private estates in England. Although both children were far too young to assume marital debt, the union was a legal and political strategy designed to consolidate power, wealth, and influence for the Yorkist monarchy. The marriage reinforced the crown’s control over significant territories and further elevated Anne’s political importance, even as a child bride.
Death and heirs
Anne de Mowbray died at Greenwich in London on 19 November 1481, nearly two years before her husband, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, and his older brother, Edward V, disappeared into the Tower of London.Her early death left the question of her substantial inheritance unresolved. Under normal succession, her closest heirs would have been her cousins, William, Viscount Berkeley and John, Lord Howard. However, an act of Parliament passed in January 1483 transferred her rights and estates to her young husband Richard, with reversion to his descendants, and, failing that, to the descendants of his father, King Edward IV.
Burial
Anne was buried in a lead coffin in the Chapel of St. Erasmus of Formia in Westminster Abbey. When that chapel was demolished around 1502 to make way for the Henry VII Lady Chapel, her coffin was moved to a vault under the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate, run by nuns of the order of Poor Clares Franciscans, and her coffin eventually disappeared.In December 1964, construction workers in Stepney accidentally dug into the vault and discovered Anne's coffin. It was opened, and her remains were analysed by scientists before being re‑entombed in Westminster Abbey in May 1965. Her red hair was still present on her skull, and her shroud remained wrapped around her. Westminster Abbey is also the presumed resting place of her husband, Richard, Duke of York, and his brother Edward V, in the Henry VII Chapel.