Henry, Prince of Wales

"My brother is combative in opposition, but he is of Plantagenet stock. I see the parts of him that earn your ire, and perhaps they are justly judged, but it is important to understand his position - why he is so abrasive."

- Prince Thomas to Evelina Rurik

Henry VI (19 August 1430), also called Henry of Wales, was King of England. Born the second son, but eventual heir to King Edward IV, he was the husband of Katrinka, Grand Duchess of Russia, and father to Princess Mary of Wales. Despite the trials of his early life, including a well-known feud with the House of York and his step-mother, Queen Isabel, Henry's outstanding military success made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. During the reign of his father, Henry gained military experience fighting the Welsh and the powerful aristocratic Neville family of York. His marriage to Katrinka Rurik, later Katherine, Princess of Wales, secured an English alliance with Eastern Europe.

Early life
Henry was born at the Palace of Placentia on August 19, 1430. A journal kept by his mother, Eleanor of England, described the manner of his birth as "unhurried and without ceremony," though economic registers suggest the Queen was kept in the utmost comfort and majesty during her lying-in. Henry's brother, Prince Arthur, had been born and greeted with supreme exuberance by the English court the year previous; hence, there had been little expectation at the time of Henry's christening that he should produce England's next king, though the Queen had been greatly praised for providing the King another son in such quick succession. Henry was baptised by Richard Fox, the Bishop of Exeter, at a church of the Observant Franciscans close to the palace.

Only three days after Henry's birth, Isabel of York, the King's treasured mistress, was delivered of her first child. His name, Thomas Fitzroy, was an obvious nod to his father King Edward. Thomas' birth is an event which is recorded to have caused Eleanor anguish, owing to the celebrations and sumptuosity of the bastard prince's baptismal processions. Hers is an unease that, nearly two decades later, Henry would himself adopt; regarding Thomas Fitzroy, later Plantagenet, a feasible rival to his throne. Nevertheless, as children, Henry and Thomas did not exhibit unusual rivalry.

Prior to the death of Prince Arthur (then Prince of Wales) in 1432, Henry was made Earl of Richmond, a title requisitioned and previously held by his grandmother, the Countess of Richmond. The infant Prince was also appointed Constable of Dover Castle, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Earl Marshal of England, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and a Knight of the Bath. Further ceremony followed when two-year old Henry was created Duke of Cambridge, only weeks before his elder brother Arthur's death. Henry was given a first-rate education from leading tutors, becoming fluent in Latin, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Not much, save for the numerous appointments bequeathed to the small child, is known of Henry's early life, due to the fact that he was not expected to become king.

Prince Arthur's death at the age of three thrust his duties upon his younger brother, then only two. Following prolonged debate, Henry became the new Duke of Cornwall in 1432 and the new Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in 1433. Now the undisputed heir to the English throne, young Henry was strictly supervised and did not appear in public at the behest of his uncle, Edmund, Duke of Gloucester. Prince Arthur's death ignited a series of events that would leave an indelible mark on the formative heir, notwithstanding his newly-minted position as Edward's successor; one being his mother's rapidly diminishing mental stability. Arthur's death held a harrowing effect on Queen Eleanor, who was said to have decreased rapidly – both in body and mind – in the wake of his funeral, unduly relying on her brother-in-law, Henry's uncle, in the period of mourning that followed.

Queen Eleanor's withdrawal from public duty and courtly life allowed Isabel Neville, the recently widowed Countess of Shrewsbury, to return to the King's good grace. Shortly after the birth of her son Thomas Fitzroy, Isabel and her husband had been exiled from court and sought refuge in Rome, returning with great pomp and circumstance to London when Eleanor's departure allowed her to reclaim her place beside Edward. Henry, his full-sister Beatrice, and Thomas were raised in the royal nursery, together, too young to know of the parlous relationship between their parents. A papal legate visiting London wrote extensively on the trio's remarkably "intimate" relationship, and also that which existed between Henry and his father's mistress, Isabel. In the absence of his own mother, who continued to deeply mourn the loss of her firstborn son to the extent that she was receptive to little else, Henry was noted for his reliance upon Isabel, and his puerile jealousy over her affections, scattered between himself and her own children. It was not until Henry's court was moved permanently to Wales, when he was just twelve, that he and his siblings were separated; the beloved half-brother that left Thomas in London would return to him an acrimonious enemy.

Eleanor's condition would continue to worsen over time, until she eventually became ostracized from not only the court, but her husband and children, rusticated in Leeds Castle, south of Tewkesbury Abbey where she would later be buried, in her final years. By 1445, it was clear Eleanor's situation was "delicate," as remarked upon by Rafael de Menezes, the Portuguese Count de Ourém who accompanied Eleanor as ambassador to England upon her marriage. In Wales, Henry became aware of the evolving hostility between his mother, father, and Isabel, compounded by rumours that swept the nation regarding Yorkist ambitions to plant Isabel on his mother's throne. It was then, at the tender age of fifteen, that Harry's own enmity toward the Nevilles took flight. While seeking to strengthen his mother's claim to the throne and the resolve of her marriage, however, he became scorned by Eleanor's rapid decline and fluctuating upheavals, blaming Isabel for the ghastliness of his mother's disposition and self-imposed exile.

The death of the Queen would only exacerbate the relations between himself and Isabel. When Eleanor died in 1452, quickly preparations were underway to bury the legacy of the late Queen and ready for the birth of a new one. Already, motions were put in place and plans solidified to legitimize Thomas Fitzroy; to do so, special papal dispensation that was later granted by Pope Callixtus was required. Shortly after Henry's return to the court of Westminster in the same year as his mother's death, Isabel and Edward were both quietly and privately married. The Prince of Wales stood as one of only a few witnesses – including Isabel's children, the Earl of Derby, and a somber Queen Mother – when they were married on the morning of April 19th 1453 at Lesnes Abbey. While he may have ostensibly gathered with the wedding revelers, within Harry had harbored an all-consuming aversion toward his father's new queen, and the half-brother who inched ever closer to taking the mantle of heir presumptive.

Later years
Description goes here.

Legacy
Description goes here.