The Sister Queens: Isabella and Catherine de Valois

Isabella de Valois was three years old in 1392 when her father suddenly went mad. Less than four years later, she was married by proxy to King Richard II and arrived in England with a French retinue and her doll’s house. Richard’s brutal murder by his cousin, the future Henry IV, forced Isabella’s desperate return to France where she found her country fatally divided. Isabella’s sister, Catherine de Valois, became the bride of Henry V and is unique in history for being the daughter of a king, the wife of a king, the mother of a king and the grandmother of a king. Like her sister, Catherine was viewed as a bargaining chip in times of political turmoil, yet her passionate love affair with the young Owain Tudor established the entire Tudor dynasty and set in motion one of the most fascinating periods of British history.