Elizabeth of York take Richard with him, so the boy could reside in the Tower and keep his brother Edward company. Elizabeth Woodville, under duress, eventually agreed. Two months later, on 22 June 1483, Edward IV's marriage was declared invalid. It was claimed that Edward IV had, at the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, already been betrothed to Lady Eleanor Butler. Parliament issued a bill, "Titulus Regius" ("The Title of the King"), in support of this position. This measure legally bastardised the children of Edward IV, made them ineligible for the succession, and declared Gloucester the rightful king, with the right
Richard Woodville (died 1441) 1435), who followed his father as an administrator and politician. From at least 1268, the Woodville family had been tenants in the village of Grafton Regis, where they occupied the manor house next to the church, and had acquired lands in neighbouring parishes. According to Hasted, it was John Woodville who acquired the manor of Mote at Maidstone in Kent, which eventually came to Richard. By 1411 he was serving in France in the garrison of Guînes, then part of the English territory of the Pale of Calais, under the Duke of Clarence, King Henry V's brother. In 1415 and