Henry III of England - Marriage and Children

Marriage and Children

Married on 14 January 1236, Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, Kent, to Eleanor of Provence, with at least five children born:

1. Edward I (b. 17 June 1239 – d. 7 July 1307)
2. Margaret (b. 29 September 1240 – d. 26 February 1275), married King Alexander III of Scotland
3. Beatrice of England (b. 25 June 1242 – d. 24 March 1275), married to John II, Duke of Brittany
4. Edmund Crouchback (16 January 1245 – d. 5 June 1296)
5. Katherine (b. 25 November 1253 – d. 3 May 1257), deaf and mute from birth, though her deafness may not have been discovered until age 2.

There is reason to doubt the existence of several attributed children of Henry and Eleanor.

• Richard (b. after 1247 – d. before 1256),
• John (b. after 1250 – d. before 1256), and
• Henry (b. after 1253 – d. young)

are known only from a 14th century addition made to a manuscript of Flores Historiarum, and are nowhere contemporaneously recorded.

• William (b. and d. ca. 1258) is an error for the nephew of Henry's half-brother, William de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke.

Another daughter, Matilda, is found only in the Hayles Abbey chronicle, alongside such other fictitious children as a son named William for King John, and an illegitimate son named John for King Edward I. Matilda's existence is doubtful, at best. For further details, see Margaret Howell, The Children of King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence (1992).