The tree is traditionally regarded as the spot of the first meeting between Edward IV, king of England and leader of the Yorkist faction in the War of the Roses, and Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of John Grey of Groby, a Lancastrian commander.

Woodville is said to have waited under the oak for Edward to pass by, to seek to plead for her sons' confiscated inheritances to be restored.

[2] It stood around half a mile to the north-east of Watling Street, between Potterspury and Paulerspury in Northamptonshire.

[7] The tree stood to the rear of the Pottersbury Lodge and several acorns from it were recovered and planted on the estate by Henry Newton in the mid-19th century.

[10] The Queen's Oak caught fire in 1994; it was badly damaged, though a solitary branch survived until August 1997.