Philippa of Clarence

Philippa of Clarence, also known as Philippa Plantagenet or Philippa de Burgh, was a medieval English princess and the suo jure Countess of Ulster. She was born at Eltham Palace in Kent, the only child of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster. As the eldest grandchild of King Edward III of England and Queen Philippa, she was named after her grandmother.

At the age of fourteen, Philippa married Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, in the Queen’s Chapel at Reading Abbey. Her cousin, King Richard II, had no children, which positioned Philippa and her descendants as next in line to the throne until his deposition. The Yorkist claim to the English crown during the Wars of the Roses was based on descent from Edward III through Philippa. She passed away in 1382 and was laid to rest at Wigmore Abbey in Herefordshire.