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Is Annette Bening descended from Edward IV’s daughter Cecily/Cicely….?

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Richard III - McKellan

Has anyone else heard that the film actress Annette Bening is descended from Edward IV’s daughter, Cecily/Cicely? That is, according to the Wikipedia entry for Elizabeth Woodville, which cites “Cecily Plantagenet – Family tree Tim Dowling Geneanet” Geneanet.org.

It seems Annette Bening played Elizabeth Woodville in the 1995 film of Richard III. (3rd from right in picture)

Yes, I know it’s Wikipedia and has to be approached with caution, but I’d be interested to know if it’s true, or how it came about. Does anyone know?

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  1. Plantagenet Avatar
    Plantagenet

    If the family trees are to be believed, and there is no reason to suggest otherwise, then yes.

    P.S. I actually found that fact out and added it to wikipedia (somewhat clumsily, though) and it was based on some other family trees (ones I cannot locate now) and not just the one on Geneanet, which I only used as a source for convenience.

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  2. A contemporary of the House of York | murreyandblue

    […] England and contracted his eldest son, James Duke of Rothesay, to Edward IV’s second daughter Cecilia. At the same time, he moved against the (MacDonald) Lord of the Isles and fell out with both his […]

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  3. Princess Cecily of York, a very daring lady…. | murreyandblue

    […] of you will know that in the 1970s I wrote a trilogy about Cicely/Cecily, daughter of Edward IV. I called her Cicely back then, and have stuck with it, but now she is […]

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  4. CICELY PLANTAGENET – NOT SO FORTUNATE AS FAIR. – murreyandblue

    […] Cicely Plantagenet (b.1469 d.1507) daughter and niece to kings, and a prime example of a medieval noblewoman who endured and in this case survived the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses.    Oh how that fickle wheel of fortune spun for Cicely – like a human yoyo – up, down, up again and then a levelling off as she married for the third time .  It’s no wonder Sir Thomas More would describe her as Not so fortunate as fair although this may be over egging the pudding a bit as she seems to have fared much better than some other aristocratic ladies from those times as two of her marriages appear to have been happy plus she didn’t die in penury.   After her third marriage she left England to live on the Isle of Wight, dying on the 24 August 1507.    This last marriage is said to have made Henry Tudor, her brother-in-law,  very, very annoyed.  But more on  that later. […]

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  5. A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors…. – murreyandblue

    […] interest in John Welles dates back to the early 1970s, when I wrote my original trilogy about Cicely, daughter of King Edward IV. She was married to John Welles (as we now know he was her second […]

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