King Richard III left no known living descendants - Professor Turi King

Numerous people email me thinking that they are descended from King Richard III, but King Richard III had no known living descendants. We know that Richard had one legitimate child with his wife Anne Neville, and this was Edward of Middleham. We know that he was born somewhere between 1473 to 1476 and we know that he had died, apparently after a short illness, in 1484, aged around 10. So, no children there.

Richard III is known to have had two illegitimate children, thought to have been fathered during his teenage years. The first of these is John of Gloucester, so-called because his father was the Duke of Gloucester. He's thought to have been born in Pontefract, so he's sometimes also known as John of Pontefract. He was given the post of Captain of Calais in 1485, just a few months before his father's death at the battle of Bosworth. When King Henry VII came to the throne it’s thought that he took him away from this position but did given him an allowance. Though some years later it’s thought that Henry had him imprisoned and then later executed. Again, not having had any children.

The second known illegitimate child of Richard III is Catherine Plantagenet. She's known to have married William Herbert the Earl of Huntingdon in 1484, but she must have died before 1487 because the Earl is at the coronation of Elizabeth of York and is described as a widower. She too is thought to have died childless.

There is a third possible illegitimate child of Richard III and this is Richard of Eastwell, who claimed that Richard III was his father. The story goes that the young Richard was taken to the tent of king Richard III on the eve of the Battle of Bosworth and was told that if Richard III was killed in battle, he was to hide his identity as his son forever. He was later hired as a bricklayer by the lord of the manner of Eastwell, but it said that he could read Latin, a sign of education and potentially high status. The parish records show that Richard of Eastwell died in 1550, again childless.

So, while Richard III left no known living descendants, his brothers and sisters did, in fact millions of them, but that's another story.

[ji]

I started watching you on YouTube in the US. I just love how you speak to the audience and explain whatever you are presenting. Take care!

[susanbellefeuille]

Thank you, it wasn't until recent research of my own I realized that Richard even had children.

[jiffyyoyo]

Based on the analysis of my mtDNA, I discovered, King Richard III belongs to my Haplogroup (Mother Lineage). I am 15% English from my mother's side of the family. My mother was born in Europe.

[Jules-fxsc]

In my tree, I am a direct descendant of his brother Edward IV. Came as a bit of a surprise, me being a working class north easterner, but I suppose there are millions of us

[gubjorggisladottir]

What is known about the male (Y ) line that Richard III belonged to? Is it "outdead" or have any living persons been found belong to the same Y male line?

[sancal]

I don't know where you are but that place is beautifullll...

[margaretbreen]

I understand what you are saying but it cannot be discounted that Richard III does have direct descendants, its just that, as you say, there are no KNOWN descendants. It would be perfectly possible for John of Gloucester to have himself fathered an illegitimate child but that there is no record of it. The term widower (as applied to William Herbert) did not always mean their spouse was dead - it was also applied to men who had 'put their wives away' (either in a nunnery or some such). The Herbert family did (for a time) deny that William & Katherine ever married and expunged her from the family records. However, evidence has came to light in more recent times that the marriage definitely did take place. Katherine was buried in a church where the infamous Stanleys buried some of their family (no known connection to the Herberts). The usurper Tudor coming to the throne would have made William Herbert's situation difficult, as he was married to a descendant of York - its entirely possible that he was persuaded to put his wife from him. William Herbert never remarried, despite not having a son to inherit the land & titles.

[karinlearned]

But according to my maternal DNA results we are related to Richard the III. Am now confused! Help!! and thank you for the video.

[Calucifer]

I only recently discovered that my mother and father have exactly the same haplogroups as Richard, J1c2c and G, and both of them had him mentioned in their genetic records. I also have lots of De La Poles, De Veres, and other people connected to Richard as my genetic matches (or mentions), so to speak. I think we must be connected to Richard, I just don´t know how. It would be just a big coincidence for this all to be, well, just a coincidence. The De La Poles and De Veres, among many others, were all intermarried within Richard´s very close family. And my father is also related to the Nevilles. Very strange. Even stranger when we are actually of Central Europe, but most of my genetic finds are from Western Europe, and Northern Europe. What is the chance of all this being true? I am planning to have our genetic tree researched, but just my father´s basic line would cost 20+ K CZK (I am from the Czech Republic), which would make a lesser monthly income in the Czech Republic. So I give this some time. But I wanna do something productive in the meanwile. Is there any way I can research on my own without having my full genetic tree? Even my own family name is Šlechta, which means Noble, Royal, and that´s a very unusual name in my country.

[julianhaywood]

Can I ask if most of the people asking are from the USA?

[judithsears]

Recently DNA has shown there to be descendants.

[kristinemiddleton]

In My DNA he is a Grandfather. Confused More