Elizabeth is a difficult figure for the historian to study. Little was written about her during her lifetime, and most mentions of her in historical records are in relation to other members of her family -- her father, Edward IV, and her mother, Elizabeth Woodville, who each negotiated for her marriage; her mysteriously missing brothers; her uncle Richard, who was accused of murdering her brothers; and of course, later, her husband and sons.
We have no idea how Elizabeth felt or what she knew about her missing brothers, what her relationship with her uncle was really like, or how close she may have been to a mother who has been depicted through much of history as grasping and manipulative. When Henry won the crown, we know little about how Elizabeth regarded the prospect of marrying him (he was King of England, so she may have liked the idea), or what went through her mind at the delay between his coronation and their wedding.
Much of the life of late medieval young ladies could be a sheltered, even isolated existence; if Elizabeth of York led a protected adolescence, that could explain a great deal of the silence. And Elizabeth could have continued her sheltered life as Henry's queen.
Elizabeth may or may not have known or understood anything about the numerous threats to the crown from Yorkist malcontents. What did she understand about the uprisings of Lord Lovell and Lambert Simnel, or the impersonation of her brother Richard by Perkin Warbeck? Did she even know when her cousin Edmund -- the strongest Yorkist contender for the throne -- engaged in plots against her husband?
And when her mother was disgraced and forced into a convent, was she upset? relieved? completely ignorant?
We simply don't know. What is known is that as queen, Elizabeth was well-liked by the nobility as well as the public at large. Also, she and Henry appeared to have had a loving relationship. She bore him seven children, four of whom survived childhood: Arthur, Margaret, Henry, and Mary.
Elizabeth died on her 38th birthday, giving birth to her last child, who lived only a few days. King Henry, who was notorious for his parsimony, gave her a lavish funeral and seemed utterly distraught at her passing.
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