Philippa of Lancaster

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Philippa of Lancaster, Queen of Portugal, princess of England
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Philippa of Lancaster, Queen of Portugal, princess of England

Philippa of Lancaster, LG (1359July 19, 1415) was an English princess, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (a son of Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault) by his wife and cousin Blanche of Lancaster. Blanche was the daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Isabel de Beaumont.

Philippa became Queen consort of Portugal by her marriage with king John I, celebrated in 1387 in the city of Porto. This marriage was the final step in the Portuguese-English alliance, against the France-Castile axis. Philippa is remembered for being a generous and loving queen, and by being the mother of the "Illustrious Generation" (in Portuguese, Ínclita Geração) of princes, whose members were:

  • Blanche (1388-1389), named after her grandmother, who died as an infant;
  • Afonso (1390-1400), named after several Kings of Portugal, including his great-grandfather Afonso IV, who died at the age of 10;
  • Edward (1391-1438), named after his great-grandfather Edward III, a writer and an intellectual, who succeeded his father;
  • Peter (1392-1449), named after his grandfather Peter I of Portugal, First Duke of Coimbra, remarkable ruler and a traveled man, who served as Regent during the minority of his nephew Afonso V;
  • Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), First Duke of Viseu, who guided Portugal to the Great era of The Discoveries;
English Royalty
House of Plantagenet

Armorial of Plantagenet
Edward III
   Edward, Prince of Wales
   Lionel, Duke of Clarence
   John, Duke of Lancaster
   Edmund, Duke of York
   Thomas, Duke of Gloucester
   Joan of England
   Isabella, Countess of Bedford
Grandchildren
    Richard II
    Philippa, Countess of Ulster
    Philippa, Queen of Portugal
    Elizabeth, Baroness Fanhope and Milbroke
    Henry IV
    Catherine, Queen of Castile
    Edward, Duke of York
    Richard, Earl of Cambridge
    Constance of York
    Anne, Countess of Eu
  • Isabella (1397-1472), who married Philip III of Burgundy and was one of the most powerful and admired women in Europe;
  • Blanche (1398), also died in childhood;
  • John (1400-1442), Duke of Aveiro, a very respected noble and the grandfather of the two greatest Iberian monarchs in the 16th century, Manuel I of Portugal and Isabella I of Castile;
  • Ferdinand (1402-1433) "the Saint Prince," a warrior, who was captured during the Disaster of Tangier and died prisoner of the Moors.

Philippa died of plague in 1415, a few days before the expedition to Ceuta.