Is Queen victoria related to/decended from the House of Lancaster?

Question

I'm writing an essay on Alice in Wonderland and was talking about the War of the Roses and how they're painting the white roses red (House of Lancaster) because the queen hates white roses (House of York).

Would this be a safe assumption to say she descended from the Lancasters? The queen in the book (who hates the white roses) is based on Queen Victoria, correct?

Answer 1

in those dayspeople were more disdreet about their lovers

we dont really know if vicky descended from the house of lancaster or the house of lords

Answer 2

The red and white roses weren't really used to denote the households. This become accepted as Shakespeare mentioned it in his plays.

Answer 3

She is also descended from Edmund of York and Lionel of Clarence, too. Anyone who is a descendant of Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York is a descendant from the Houses of both York and Lancaster.

Of course the term 'Wars of the Roses' is a bit of misnomer, as no one really used those badges exclusively. The 'Cousins' War' might be more apropriate even if it doesn't have quite the same ring *laughs*.

Answer 4

This article states that the Queen of Hearts is based on Queen Victoria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_He...

The "founder" of the House of Lancaster was John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster...

Victoria is descended from John of Gaunt so she is, of course, descended from the House of Lancaster. She is:

- A 13-greats granddaughter thirteen times over

- A 14-greats granddaughter thirty-two times over

- A 15-greats granddaughter twenty-one times over

- A 16-greats granddaughter three times over

This means she is descended from John of Gaunt a total of sixty-nine times over a period of about four centuries, which is not that extraordinary given the amount of time.

Answer 5

Mark S is correct that the "Wars of the Roses" bit was dreamed up much later thanks to Shakespeare's plays.

The families of York and Lancaster were united by Henry VII (the Lancaster claimant) marrying Elizabeth of York (the senior surviving York claimant), and the Tudor dynasty all subsequent English royalty are descended from that marriage. For that reason the "Tudor rose" was particoloured white and red, to symbolise this union.