Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex paternal aunt was Margaret Dayrell who was wife to James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley. Her maternal uncles included (among others) Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers and Lionel Woodville, Bishop of Salisbury. Her aunts included Elizabeth Woodville and Mary Woodville, married respectively to Edward IV of England and William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Her first cousins included (among others) John Tuchet, 8th Baron Audley, Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, Richard Grey, Elizabeth of York, Mary of York, Cecily of York, Edward V of England, Margaret of York, Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York,
Elizabeth Woodville to the throne with any degree of validity. To strengthen his claim and unite the two feuding noble houses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort agreed that the latter's son should marry the former's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, who upon the death of her brothers became the heiress of the House of York. Henry Tudor agreed to this plan and in December 1483 publicly swore an oath to that effect in the cathedral in Rennes, France. A month earlier, an uprising in his favour, led by Buckingham, had been crushed. Richard III's first Parliament of January 1484 stripped Elizabeth of