His complex private life had its origins in his father’s arguably weak claim to and lengthy fight for the throne, and the history of two families, the Houses of Lancaster and York. Descended through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third surviving son of Edward III, and his mistress, Catherine Swynford, and through his father, Edmund Tudor, who was half-brother to Henry VI, Henry Tudor became the foremost Lancastrian claimant to the throne. After the first usurpation of the throne of Henry VI by Edward, Duke of York, who became Edward IV, Henry Tudor, the 13-yearold Earl of Richmond, had no real protectors and disappeared into exile in the care of his uncle, Jasper Tudor. His grandmother was Catherine de Valois, sister of Charles VI of France, and exile across the Channel was a good deal safer than staying in England. Henry Tudor stayed in Brittany (a separate dukedom until 1488 when the heiress, Anne of Brittany, married Charles VIII of France) from 1471 to 1485 as the guest of Duke Francis II, the Marshall of Brittany.
