Grace Plantagenet: Who Was She?

Edward IV of England had ten legitimate children with his beloved wife, Elizabeth Woodville. But he also left a trail of bastards. Only a few names are known, and even fewer details. One bastard, a daughter named Grace Plantagenet, is said to have been seen on the funeral barge of Elizabeth Woodville. But aside from that - nothing! No past, no future. Who was she?

Please feel free to create timelines for Grace. I am curious to see what you all think her life could have been like.
 
Well it doesn't look like she married anyone of note unlike some of Edward's other illegitimate children. A daughter named Agnes quite possibly seems to be an ancestor of Elizabeth II.
 
There are some that we definitely have details for - Elizabeth Plantagenet and Arthur Plantagenet - a couple of the others are open to challenge I believe. The only evidence for Grace is the reference to her being at Elizabeth Woodville's funeral - which suggests she was either in the household of Queen Elizabeth of York or had been in attendance on Queen Elizabeth Woodville at Bermondsey.
I believe she was the main character of the fictional book The King's Grace - which suggested she was lady in waiting to EW and stayed with her after Edward's death. Though given the upbringing of Elizabeth and her quite good marriage before her father's death it is unusual that Grace remained with EW rather than be married off as well (which might mean she was younger than the King's other known bastards and still a child at his death or her mother was more low born than her half siblings)
 
Bastards usually don't get into high prestigious positions. Well, Edward's ancestor William the Bastard Duke o Normandy did.
 
Bastards usually don't get into high prestigious positions. Well, Edward's ancestor William the Bastard Duke o Normandy did.

It depends on their mother's social status and their father's/half-borther's affection. Arthur Plantagenet, whose mother was of low birth, was nonetheless wed to a Grey heiress and created Viscount Lisle.
 
Bastards usually don't get into high prestigious positions. Well, Edward's ancestor William the Bastard Duke o Normandy did.

Louis XIV's and James V's did. Besides it didn't really matter who her mom was, once Ned acknowledges her as his daughter, she becomes attractive to any nobleman (either for himself or his son). Which brings me to the question: did Ned acknowledge her as his? Or was it a case of everyone knew Grace was his daughter but at his death there was still no formal acknowledgement of this fact?

IMHO its one thing for a girl in the queen's household to be saying she's the late king's daughter (that can be easy, what girl doesn't wanna think she's a princess, if born on the wrong side of the blanket?), but until Edward says "Gracie's my daughter that I had with that kitchenmaid, I don't remember her name, the one with the brown hair and the big..." "that's enough, your majesty. Grace is hereby declared the daughter of King Edward and Ms Mary Smith" - her position as a sideeye royal is negligible before DNA.

If she's unofficial this could explain why she fared so poorly compared to Lord Arthur or Lady Elizabeth. She might look like Edward/Liz of York but so did Perkin Warbeck apparently. And after THAT nobody wants ANOTHER Edwardian bastard crawling out the woodwork, least of all Henry VII.
 
No idea if this is what the post calls for, but here's my suggested life of Grace Plantagenet:

Born in the early 1470's, Grace Plantagenet was the product of a liaison between the King of England and a Scottish maid, who traveled with the King during his exile in Scotland and had become his mistress. Their relationship was brief, however, and when he took back his throne in 1471, he fully intended to leave the young woman entirely, but their was one problem: she was pregnant. Noble enough to know what to do, he brought her to London, paid for her to stay with a well to do servant family, and by 1475 the young Miss Grace was recognized by her father, her mother was sent back to her Scottish family, and she was sent to the country, for the time being.

Often forgotten by her father, Grace Plantagenet was raised with her royal bastard status as a known fact, and in 1483, just two weeks before his death, the King had her brought back to the court. We can guess from this she was probably of an age to be interrgrated into the court, so her birth was probably around 1471/1472. Regardless of her age, she was placed in the Queen's household, and was there when her father died, in April of 1483.

She was amongst the small group that rallied around the Queen, and when Elizabeth Woodville took to sanctuary, she was kept in her service as a maid. The young girl seems to have kept herself close to Woodville, and it's suggested that during the stay, Grace Plantagenet was in attendance to the Queen when she agreed to let her younger son out of the safety of sanctuary. Regardless, she was amongst the party that would return to the royal court, this time of Richard III, in 1484.

Grace would see herself married in 1485, under her uncle's suggestion, to fellow courtier Harold Cooper. A man of some wealth and little else to recommend him, this was his fourth marriage, and the first to provide children, as a son was conceived sometime late in the year. There's evidence that Cooper was meant to gain a title from King Richard, but that would not come to be, and the Coopers would find themselves once again under a new King. They were accepted into the royal household, and in 1486, Grace Plantagenet was once again acting as a maid to her father's wife, after the birth of a son named Adam Cooper. This would remain the situation until 1487, when Elizabeth Woodville entered Bermondsey Abbey and Grace Plantaganet entered the household of the York sisters, firstly as a maid to Cecily of York, then Anne of York until 1495. We know Grace Plantaganet had a further three children while in this position, and in 1495 was left a wealthy widow with four children.

Grace Plantaganet would attend Elizabeth Woodville's funeral in 1492, possibly as a guest of Cecily of York. We know the two were close enough that, around 1504, she was amongst those who support the York Princess on her third marriage, and attended her funeral in 1507. She also may have remarried herself to Cecily's widower, as she is recorded as having "two children, Isabelle and John Kymbe, in attendance" in 1511, although it's possible those two were Cecily's children, and Grace Plantagenet had simply taken on responsibility for them. Whatever her role, it's likely she died around the 1520's, and we know a "Mrs. Coopr" died in 1527, during the outbreak of sweating sickness. If this was her, it's a sad end to an interesting life, although there is record of a "Widow Coopre" in 1532, so perhaps that was her daughter-in-law who died in 1527, as we know Adam Cooper married to a rich widow of his own in 1514, although her name is lost to time.

Grace Plantaganet is an interesting figure in history, as she is lost to obscurity, but continued to play a part in it. She attended the funerals of Queens and nobles, but never once rose above her place. She was a kind woman, a good woman, and upon her death, whenever it was, Tudor England lost a bright spark of goodness.
 
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