St Peter's Parish News
Thursday 1 January 1970
Cecily Neville, Duchess of York
This Saturday marks the 530th anniversary of the death of Cecily, Duchess of York at Berkhamsted Castle on 31 May 1495. She was married to Richard Duke of York (a member of the ruling House of Plantagenet and a claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses). Cecily was the mother of two English kings – King Edward IV and King Richard III. She is remembered here in Berkhamsted as the last royal resident at Berkhamsted Castle.
Edward IV granted Berkhamsted to his mother in 1469, and people from the town were employed in her large household. Robert Incent, an important parishioner of St Peter’s served as secretary to the Duchess of York. As patron of St Peter’s Church, she appointed Rev John More as rector in 1478. When Cecily died, she bequeathed vestments and an altar frontal from the Castle’s Royal Chapel to St Peter’s Church. She was buried at Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire. Her royal arms can be seen in a stained-glass window at the west end of St Peter’s Church.
The lady Cecily, Queen by Right, wife of the right noble prince Richard, true heir of England and France and lord of Ireland, mother to King Edward IV and King Richard III, Duchess of York (d. 31 May 1495 at Berkhamsted Castle)
www.berkhamstedcastle.org.uk 
