Earl of Richmond and away from any attempts of the French crown to acquire it and the related properties. From 1414 to 1435 the earldom of Richmond was held by John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford. In 1453 it was conferred on Edmund Tudor, half-brother to King Henry VI. When Edmund's son Henry ascended the throne as Henry VII in 1485, the earldom of Richmond merged in the crown, and for the next forty years there was no further grant of the title. After Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became King Henry VII of England, the title Duke of Richmond was created by the
Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond eldest of John of Gaunt's bastard sons, John Beaufort. She had been previously married to John de la Pole, whose father, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk had intended to seek the claim to the throne of her and any children should Henry fail to produce any heirs. William was murdered in 1450, and the marriage between Margaret and John was annulled in the first months of 1453 to enable her to be remarried to Edmund. It was this marriage on 1 November 1455 at Bletsoe Castle which enabled any offspring to lay claim to the English throne