Katherine Neville, Baroness Hastings

Her aunt, Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, mother of future kings and Katherine's first cousins, Edward IV and Richard III, was another key figure in the dynastic civil wars that dominated most of the latter half of 15th-century England.

[2] Her paternal grandparents were Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland, a daughter of John of Gaunt by his third wife, Katherine de Roet, making her a direct descendant of Edward III.

She did not, however, remain a widow for long; shortly before 6 February 1462[5] her brother Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, arranged a marriage between her and William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, a powerful noble, and a close friend and Lord Chamberlain of Edward IV who had replaced Henry VI as king of England on 4 March 1461 when he was proclaimed king in London.

It was about this time that Katherine's husband became the lover of Jane Shore, a former mistress of both King Edward IV and her son-in-law, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset.

Several weeks later, Richard sealed an indenture, swearing to take Katherine directly under his protection and to "secure for her the enjoyment of her husband's lands, goods, privileges, and the custody not only of their heir until the boy came of age but also the wardship of the young Earl of Shrewsbury who was married to their daughter, Anne".

In order for Katherine to retain these properties, she was compelled to pay Lovell the sum of 200 marks in cash and give him lands totalling the same amount per annum.

Richard made no move to curtail the avarice of his friend, who had assumed a powerful role in the government during the King's brief reign.

Katherine's eldest surviving son, Edward fought on the side of King Henry against Lovell at the Battle of Stoke in June 1487.

This battle saw the final defeat of the House of York and Lovell, as one of the Yorkists' chief leaders, afterwards fled to Scotland; however, his eventual fate remains unknown.