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The Tudor family tree: one great-grandmother, twice.

The Tudors ruled England from 1485, when Henry VII took the crown, to 1603, when his granddaughter Elizabeth I died with no children. The crown went to James VI of Scotland, Henry VII's great-great-grandson through his daughter Margaret, and twice over: Margaret Tudor was his father's grandmother and his mother's grandmother too.

Everything on this page comes from a published family tree of the Tudors, 347 people, compiled by Darren Jeffrey with information from FamilySearch. Each picture is what AncestralFire shows when you ask about them.

From a younger son to the last Tudor.

  1. 1502Ludlow CastleArthur, Prince of Wales, dies on 2 April at fifteen, less than five months after marrying Catherine of Aragon. His brother Henry, ten, is now the heir.
  2. 1503the Tower of LondonTheir mother, Elizabeth of York, dies on 11 February, her birthday.
  3. 1509Richmond PalaceHenry VII dies on 21 April. Henry VIII, seventeen, marries his brother's widow.
  4. 1547WhitehallHenry VIII dies on 28 January, ninety years to the day after his father was born.
  5. 1603Richmond PalaceElizabeth I, the last Tudor, dies on 24 March. James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England.

A family tree is a record, and records carry mistakes. This one gives Elizabeth of York's birth as 11 February 1465; she was born in 1466, so she died on her thirty-seventh birthday. When your file and FamilySearch Family Tree disagree on a date, AncestralFire shows you both and lets you choose; it never changes your file behind your back. The file also writes Henry VII's birth as 28 January 1456-1457, because until 1752 England's year began on 25 March; AncestralFire reads it as 1457, and the ninety years hold.

From Henry VII to James I, four generations.

James Stuart is Henry VII Tudor's great-great-grandson: Henry VII, then Margaret Tudor, then Margaret Douglas, then Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, then James.
His great-great-grandson, through his daughter Margaret. Henry VII was born in 1457, 109 years before James: about 27 years a generation. The file calls him James Stuart; history calls him James VI of Scotland and James I of England.

James's ancestors: Margaret Tudor on both sides.

The ancestors of James Stuart in this file: his parents Henry Stuart and Mary Stewart, his four grandparents, and four of his eight great-grandparents, Margaret Tudor among them twice.
One great-grandmother in two places. His parents, Lord Darnley and Mary, Queen of Scots, were both her grandchildren, so she fills two of his eight great-grandparents' places. Genealogists call it pedigree collapse. The four the file doesn't hold are marked “not in the tree” rather than left out in silence.

Arthur, the brother who died first.

Arthur Tudor, 1486 to 1502: born at Winchester, died at Ludlow Castle, married Catherine of Aragon at St Paul's Cathedral in 1501, son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.
Married at 15 to Catherine of Aragon. The card opens on what his own dates say, then his parents, his brothers and sisters, and his marriage at St Paul's in 1501. Less than five months later he was dead, and his younger brother would be Henry VIII.

Your family has stories like this.

The Tudors are famous, but the ancestors nobody has heard of have their own brothers who died young, their own dates that land on the same day, and sometimes a great-grandmother who appears twice. Tell us one name, and your partner will find them and bring back their story.

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Every family story, or the guides for doing the same with yours.

Source: EnglishTudorRoyalFamily.ged, the Tudor royal family compiled by Darren Jeffrey with information from FamilySearch, as shared in the D-Jeffrey/gedcom-samples collection (MIT or CC0). Everyone named on this page has died. Titles, reigns, the places of death the file leaves blank and Elizabeth of York's 1466 birth are history, not the file.