Henry VII of England

His first invasion of England failed partially due to extremely heavy rains. WI: His ship sinks while returning to Brittany and he drowns. Does that leave anyone strong enough to rebel against Richard III? Does this mean that Richard will keep the throne?
 
His first invasion of England failed partially due to extremely heavy rains. WI: His ship sinks while returning to Brittany and he drowns. Does that leave anyone strong enough to rebel against Richard III? Does this mean that Richard will keep the throne?


Possibly, but more likely Richard's enemies just find another pretender. a real one if any can be found; if not then a Perkin Warbeck type of impostor. Just so long as he's unmarried and so free to wed Elizabeth of York, anyone will serve.
 
Actually it strengthens Richard quite a bit - I would expect him to do rather well for a few years - however there are a number of risks - pretenders claiming to be Edward V or his brother as plagued Henry VII, the person of his nephew Edward Earl of Warwick who has a stronger claim than Richard.
Much depends on whether Richard manages to remarry and produce an heir of his own.
 
What was the allegiance of the remaining Beaufort scions? Either Lady Margaret, Charles Somerset or someone else of Beaufort blood could advance a claim.
 
There is virtually no-one - even Henry's claim was remote and he certainly wasn't considered any great threat until Richard III's deposition of Edward V unsettled the Yorkist apple cart.
After Richard III - there is only one direct male line descendant of Edward III left - Edward Earl of Warwick (Richard's nephew)
In the Lancastrian descent the claimants are the now childless Lady Margaret Beaufort the nearest Beaufort claimant after her is going to be her cousin Eleanor Beaufort Countess of Ormonde (daughter of the 2nd Duke of Somerset) she has two daughters.

After Eleanor her sister's son the Duke of Buckingham would be next but he is dead and his children have a Woodville mother and are still very young in 1485.
 
There is virtually no-one - even Henry's claim was remote and he certainly wasn't considered any great threat until Richard III's deposition of Edward V unsettled the Yorkist apple cart.
After Richard III - there is only one direct male line descendant of Edward III left - Edward Earl of Warwick (Richard's nephew)
In the Lancastrian descent the claimants are the now childless Lady Margaret Beaufort the nearest Beaufort claimant after her is going to be her cousin Eleanor Beaufort Countess of Ormonde (daughter of the 2nd Duke of Somerset) she has two daughters.

After Eleanor her sister's son the Duke of Buckingham would be next but he is dead and his children have a Woodville mother and are still very young in 1485.


Iirc there's also a Charles Somerset, direct ancestor to the current Dukes of Beaufort.

He was a direct male-line desscendant of John of Gaunt. Of course, the descent passed through two illegitiimacies, but if bastardy really mattered Henry VII wouldn't have been in the running either.
 
Bastardy did actually matter - the Beaufort's had been legitimised though whether that gave them a claim to the throne is arguable.
That was based on the fact that John of Gaunt later married his former mistress and the mother of his Beaufort offspring.
Somerset did not have that advantage and was undeniably illegitimate.

Charles Somerset never really figured as a person of interest at the time in terms of any right to the succession as opposed to his Beaufort relations.
He came to more prominance with the Tudor accession and was married to his first wife an heiress who was one of Elizabeth Woodville's numerous nieces. He proved a loyal Tudor servant.
 
Possibly, but more likely Richard's enemies just find another pretender. a real one if any can be found; if not then a Perkin Warbeck type of impostor. Just so long as he's unmarried and so free to wed Elizabeth of York, anyone will serve.

Richard had already arranged to marry Elizabeth of York to the Duke of Beja. Her younger sister Cecily had already been married to Ralph Scrope, a loyal supporter of Richard. Anne was engaged to one of the Howards. Catherine was only six and Bridget only five, but as they got older Richard would have tried to marry them off to foreigners or loyal supporters as well.
 
Richard had already arranged to marry Elizabeth of York to the Duke of Beja. Her younger sister Cecily had already been married to Ralph Scrope, a loyal supporter of Richard. Anne was engaged to one of the Howards. Catherine was only six and Bridget only five, but as they got older Richard would have tried to marry them off to foreigners or loyal supporters as well.



How long would the loyal supporters have remained loyal once they had a claim by marriage on Richard's throne? After all, Buckingham had been to all appearances a loyal supporter, but it didn't last.

As for Beja, being a foreigner might technically disqualify him, but I'm sure he could have made a spurious claim to have been born in England, if he ever needed one. After all, look at the unlikely pretenders that popped up in Henry VII's reign.
 
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