She was born at Westminster, the eldest child of King Edward IV and his own Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville (who both had children from earlier relationships). Following her father's death and the accession to the throne of his brother Richard III, scurrilous rumours circulated that Richard intended to marry her as soon as his wife, the ailing Anne Neville, was dead. There is no surviving evidence for such a plan, although Sir George Buck later claimed to have uncovered a letter from Elizabeth (now lost) which showed she was party to it. It has been suggested that the rumours were started by Elizabeth's mother Elizabeth Woodville as part of her campaign to put her daughter on the throne; if Richard had been able to obtain a dispensation from the church to marry his niece, it would have prevented her marrying the chief threat to his throne, Henry Tudor.

Elizabeth Woodville arranged to marry her daughter to Henry Tudor, and Henry kept putting the marriage off, and it finally took Parliament itself, on behalf of the people, to petitioned Henry Tudor to carry out his promise, and on January 18, 1486, the marriage took place. It was not until November 25, 1487, more than a year after their first child, Arthur, was born on September 20, 1486, that Elizabeth was crowned queen.

It was a relatively successful marriage, all things considered. They had seven (or possibly eight, but only seven are shown in the commemorative picture painted in about 1509) children:

Arthur, Prince of Wales (September 20, 1486 – April 2, 1502).

Margaret Tudor (November 28, 1489 – October 18, 1541).

Henry VIII of England (June 28, 1491 – January 28, 1547).

Elizabeth Tudor (July 2, 1492 – September 14, 1495).

Mary Tudor (March 18, 1496 – June 25, 1533)
(Maternal Grandmother of Lady Jane Grey)

Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset (February 21, 1499 – June 19, 1500).

Edward Tudor. Unknown dates of birth and death. Suspected to be a mistaken name for Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset.

Katherine Tudor (February 2, 1503 – February 2, 1503).

The eldest son and heir to the throne, Arthur, Prince of Wales, died after marrying Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. This seems to have been the motive for Elizabeth to become pregnant the last time, in order to strengthen the succession. Elizabeth died, on her 37th birthday, a few days after giving birth to her last child, Katherine Tudor, who also died. Although Henry VII was known to be a very thrifty person, he threw his wife a splendid funeral. She is buried in Westminster Abbey in the Lady Chapel. Later, her husband Henry was buried beside her.

Elizabeth of York is the only English Queen to have been a wife, daughter, sister, niece and mother to an English King. Elizabeth is also the basis for the picture of queens in a deck of cards.

Her second son Henry followed his father as king, her eldest daughter Margaret married James IV of Scotland, and her youngest child Mary married Louis XII of France.

Mary Tudor married 52-year-old Louis XII of France, at Abbeville, on October 9, 1514. Despite two previous marriages, Louis had no living sons. However, Louis died on January 1, 1515, less than three months after he married Mary, and there were no children. Nevertheless, her English contemporaries frequently referred to Mary as 'the French Queen'.

Less than 6 months later, on May 13, 1515, she married Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (of the second creation) at Greenwich Palace. Suffolk was the son of William Brandon, standard-bearer of Henry VII, who was slain by Richard III in person on Bosworth Field, and had taken part in the jousts to celebrate Mary's marriage to Louis. He was also accredited to negotiate various matters with Louis, and was sent to congratulate the new King of France, Francis I, following Louis' death.

Mary's marriage to Suffolk greatly angered her brother, Henry VIII, but he soon forgave them, though he fined them heavily. Together, Mary and Suffolk had three children:

Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln (March 11, 1516 –March 8, 1534)

Lady Frances Brandon (July 16, 1517 – November 20, 1559), who married Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset and later 1st Duke of Suffolk
(Lady Frances Brandon was the mother of Lady Jane Grey)

Lady Eleanor Brandon (1519 - September 27, 1547), wife of Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland.

Relations between Henry VIII and Mary were further strained in the late 1520s when she opposed him in his attempt to receive an annulment from Queen Catherine of Aragon. Mary was known to have a hatred for the future queen Anne Boleyn.

Mary is buried at the ruined abbey at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Her paternal grandparents were Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Her maternal grandparents were Henry VII of England and his queen consort Elizabeth of York.

Her maternal uncles included Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry VIII of England, Edmund Tudor, Duke of Somerset and (possibly) Edward Tudor. Her maternal aunts included Margaret Tudor, Elizabeth Tudor and Katherine Tudor. These royal connections gave her a claim to the throne of England that would be seized upon in 1553 by opponents to the accession of Mary I of England.

Her maternal grandparents were Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, former Queen consort of France. Mary being a daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. She was also a younger sister of Henry VIII of England.

Her older sister was the designated heir of Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII by his third Queen consort Jane Seymour. Edward VI died on July 6, 1553 and Jane was proclaimed Queen regnant on July 10. However Edward VI had removed his older half-sisters Mary I of England , daughter of Henry VIII by his first Queen consort Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth I of England, daughter of Henry VIII by his second Queen consort Anne Boleyn, from the line of succession.

Jane was deposed in favor of Mary on July 19, 1553. The deposed Queen was executed on February 12, 1554. Mary continued to reign until her natural death on November 17, 1558. She was also the first Queen consort of Philip II of Spain. Mary died childless and was succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was herself unwed and childless. The matter of her succession would bring Catherine Grey to relative prominence. As a grand-daughter of Mary Tudor, Catherine had just as valid a claim to the throne of England as her older sister had. She could claim to be next-in-line for the throne and was therefore as significant a threat to Queen Elizabeth as Jane had been to Queen Mary.

In 1560, Lady Catherine secretly married Edward Seymour, 2nd Earl of Hertford, the son of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and nephew of deceased Queen consort Jane Seymour. Her cousin marrying anyone without her permission would be enough to anger Queen Elizabeth. Catherine marrying the nephew of the woman Henry VIII had executed Anne Boleyn to marry, resulted in pushing Elizabeth into a full-blown fury. She imprisoned, for a time, everyone who had anything to do with it, including Bess of Hardwick, who was the one Lady Catherine confessed to when she became pregnant and knew the secret was about to come out.

The marriage was annulled in 1562 but resulted in two children:

Edward Seymour 3rd, Earl of Hertford, (1561-1612).

Thomas Seymour (born 1563).

It was this Edward Seymour whose son William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, got into trouble by his secret marriage to Arbella Stuart, another cousin with an attenuated claim to the throne of England.

Elizabeth I survived her and would reign until her own death on March 24, 1603.

Her maternal grandparents were Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Mary Tudor, former Queen consort of France. Mary being a daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. She was also a younger sister of Henry VIII of England.

Mary Grey was described as "four foot tall and hunchbacked". Assuming this foot is equivalent to the modern measurement, Mary would have been approximately 1,22 metres tall. Her reported deformity would be described as kyphosis

Her oldest sister Jane was the designated heir of Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII by his third Queen consort Jane Seymour. Edward VI died on July 6, 1553 and Jane was proclaimed Queen regnant on July 10. However Edward VI had removed his older half-sisters Mary I of England , daughter of Henry VIII by his first Queen consort Catherine of Aragon, and Elizabeth I of England, daughter of Henry VIII by his second Queen consort Anne Boleyn, from the line of succession.

Jane was deposed in favor of Mary on July 19, 1553. The deposed Queen was executed on February 12, 1554. Mary continued to reign until her natural death on November 17, 1558. She was also the first Queen consort of Philip II of Spain. Mary died childless and was succeeded by her younger half-sister Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was herself unwed and childless. Lady Catherine Grey was considered a likely heir to the throne until her own death in 1568. This would bring Lady Mary Grey to relative prominence. Mary served the courts of her cousins Mary I of England and Elizabeth I of England as a maid of honor.

As the last surviving granddaughter of Mary Tudor, Mary was considered by some to be heiress presumptive to the English throne. Mary Grey was already living under house arrest at that time, having been imprisoned in 1565 for marrying royal gatekeeper Thomas Keyes without the permission of Queen Elizabeth. She was released following his death in 1572 and was permitted to attend Court occasionally. In spite of the intrigues involving her sisters, Mary Grey does not appear ever to have made a serious claim to the throne. She died childless at age 33.

Elizabeth I survived her and would reign until her own death on March 24, 1603.