Elizabeth Woodville a medieval queen consort. Her acts included making pilgrimages, obtaining a papal indulgence for those who knelt and said the Angelus three times per day, and founding the chapel of St. Erasmus in Westminster Abbey. Following Edward IV's sudden death, possibly from pneumonia, in April 1483, Elizabeth Woodville became queen dowager. Her young son, Edward V, became king, with his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, acting as Lord Protector. In response to the Woodvilles' attempt to monopolise power, Gloucester quickly moved to take control of the young king and had Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, and Richard Grey, brother and
Anne Woodville an Act of Parliament known as "Titulus Regius" which declared King Edward V and his siblings illegitimate. Elizabeth, now styled as Dame Grey, was forced to seek sanctuary with her daughters, while her two sons, the "Princes in the Tower" were kept in the Tower of London by the orders of King Richard III. On 25 June 1483, King Richard also ordered the executions of Anne and Elizabeth's brother Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, and Richard Grey who was Elizabeth's younger son by her first marriage to Sir John Grey of Groby. Anne Woodville, Viscountess Bourchier, died on 30 July 1489,