Cecily Neville, the Duchess of York

Cecily Neville was an English noblewoman, daughter of of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland (d 1425) and the mother of two kings, Edward IV (r. 1461-1470, 1471-1483) and Richard III (r. 1483-1485).

Cecily Neville was so extravagant, and so wealthy, that her husband had a manager appointed to look after her expenditure. Once she had a dress made that had 325 pearls stitched to it, and a half pound of gold thread woven on it. From 1443 to 1444 she spent £608 on clothes, more than some earls had to live on. In her later live she devoted her energy to religious readings and became renowned as one of the most pious women in the country.

At the time of her death she was worth £20,000, 0.54% of net national income of £3.7m. In 2010 that would be £5.9bn.