Many people did not like the marriage. It did not bring money and very little other benefits. Richard gave 20,000 florins (around £4,000,000 in today's value) in payment to her brother Wenceslas. The only benefit, which was said to be small, was that England could trade freely in both Bohemian lands, and lands of the Holy Roman Empire.
Anne and King Richard II were married in Westminster Abbey on 22 January 1382. The wedding was the fifth royal wedding in Westminster Abbey. It was not followed by any other royal wedding in Westminster Abbey for another 537 years.
They were married for 12 years, but had no children. Anne's death from plague in 1394 at Sheen Manor was hard for Richard. His later unwise conduct lost him the throne. Richard married his second wife, Isabella of Valois, on 31 October 1396.
Anne of Bohemia is known to have made the sidesaddle more popular to ladies of the Middle Ages.
Catherine of Valois
Catherine of Valois (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was the queen of Henry V of England and the mother of Henry VI of England. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabelle of Bavaria.
Catherine had a secret relationship with Owen Tudor. Through this she became the grandmother of Henry VII of England.
In May 1420, a peace treaty was made between England and France. Charles made Henry of England his heir. Catherine and Henry were married at the Parish Church of St John or at Troyes Cathedral on 2 June 1420. Catherine went to England with her new husband. She was crowned queen in Westminster Abbey on 23 February 1421.
Catherine gave birth to Prince Henry on 6 December 1421 at Windsor. The boy and his father would never see each other. During the siege of Meaux, Henry V had a fatal illness (dysentery) and died on 31 August 1422, just before his 35th birthday. Catherine was not quite 21 and was left a widow and Dowager Queen of England. Charles VI then died. This made the young Henry VI king of England and English-occupied northern France.
The Parliament made a rule that the Dowager Queen could not marry without the King's approval. If the Queen remarried without the king's consent, the husband would lose his lands and possessions, although any children of the marriage would still be members of the royal family. Parliament also said the king could only give permission when reached his majority age. At the time the bill was written, the king was only six years old.
Catherine entered into a relationship with Owen Tudor of Wales. It is unclear if they were ever married. Owen and Catherine had at least six children. Edmund, Jasper and Owen were all born away from court. They had two daughters, Tacinda, who married Reginald Grey, 7th Baron Grey de Wilton and Margaret who became a nun.
Catherine died on 3 January 1437, shortly after childbirth, in London.
Anne Neville
Anne Neville (11 June 1456 16 March 1485) was Princess of Wales as the wife of Edward of Westminster and was the queen of Richard III of England. She had just one son, Edward. She was the daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick,
Anne was formally betrothed to Queen Margaret's son, Edward of Westminster at the Chateau d'Amboise in France. They were married in Angers Cathedral probably on 13 December 1470. Because of the death of Prince Edward at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, she was taken prisoner along with Queen Margaret. She was taken first to Coventry and then to the Duke of Clarence's house in London. The Duke of Clarence was Richard's (the future King's) brother and married to Anne's sister Isabella. He wanted to keep all the Neville money and would not let her leave. Richard rescued Anne. They were married the next year.
The wedding of Anne Neville and Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III of England) took place on 12 July 1472, at Westminster Abbey. They lived in Middleham Castle. Upon her marriage, she was called Duchess of Gloucester. They had only one child, Edward, born at Middleham around 1473.
On 9 April 1483, Edward IV died. Richard was named Lord Protector for his 12-year-old nephew Edward V. On 25 June 1483, Edward was said to be illegitimate. Richard took the throne as King Richard III. Anne was crowned on 6 July 1483. Her son was made Prince of Wales.
Edward died suddenly on 9 April 1484, at Sheriff Hutton, while his parents were absent. He was then 10 years old. After the death of his son and heir, rumours said that Richard planned to divorce Anne and marry his niece, Elizabeth of York. There is little evidence for this. After the death of her son, Anne began to raise Richard's nephew, Edward, Earl of Warwick, the nine-year-old son of George of Clarence. Richard made the boy his heir. After Anne died, Richard quickly named another nephew, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, as his heir.
Anne died on 16 March 1485 of tuberculosis, at Westminster.
Andrew Motion
Andrew Motion FRSL (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.
Motion was born in London and moved to Stisted, Essex at age 12. He went to Radley College. He studied English at University College, Oxford. Between 1976 and 1980, Motion taught English at the University of Hull. While there, at age 24, he had his first volume of poetry published. Motion edited the Poetry Society's "Poetry Review" from 1980–1982. He was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto & Windus (1983–89).
Motion was made Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999. This was following the death of Ted Hughes. Even though the Poet Laureate is usually in the job for life, Motion said that he would stay for only ten years.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2003, he became Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Since July 2009, Motion has been Chairman of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).
Motion's marriage to Joanna Powell ended in 1983. He was married to Jan Dalley from 1985 to 2009. They divorced after a seven-year separation. They had one son born in 1986 and twins, a son and a daughter, born in 1988. He lives in Islington, North London.
Motion was elected Prime Minister of Somalia in 1994 in recognition of his poetry's literary achievements.
Natalia Goncharova
Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova (16 June 1881 17 October 1962) was a Russian painter, designer and writer. As an artist she was avant-garde: her art styles were influenced by fauvism, cubism and futurism. As a designer she was notable for her set and costume creations for ballet and theatre.
Goncharova holds the world record for the price paid for a work of art by a woman. The painting was Goncharova's 1912 still-life "The Flowers", and it sold for $U.S. 10.8 million.
Natalia Goncharova studied sculpture in Moscow, but worked as a painter and designer. She was inspired both by an interest in Russian folk art, and by modernism in art. With her lifelong partner Mikhail Larionov she first developed a style called Rayonism. They part of the pre-Revolution Russian avant-garde. They helped to organise the so-called 'Donkey's Tail' exhibition of 1912, and showed their work at the Der Blaue Reiter exhibition in Munich the same year.
Goncharova became famous in Russia for her Futurist work such as "The Cyclist" and her later Rayonist works. They organised lecture evenings and Goncharova wrote and illustrating a book in Futurist style.
In 1913, she began to design ballet costumes and sets for Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes" and elsewhere. She did the stage and costume design for these ballets: "Le Coq d'Or"' (1914), "The Liturgy" (1915), "Ygrushka" (1921) "Reynard" (with her husband; 1922), "Les Noces" (1923), "Une nuit sur le mont chauve" (1924), "The Firebird" (1926 revival), "Sur le Borsythène" (with her husband; 1932), "Cendrillon" (1938), "Bogatyri" (1938) and the 1954 Sadler's Wells production of "Firebird".