Talk:Edward III

Number of Legitimate Sons

I wanted to put this out there for someone with perhaps more knowledge than I have to comment on before I continue my increasingly desperate search for sources... as far as I can tell, there are (rather famously) only seven known legitimate sons of Edward III (Edward the Black Prince, William Hatfield, Lionel of Antwerp, John of Gaunt, Edmund of Langley, William of Windsor, and Thomas of Woodstock). Every source I have found claiming that there were eight sons references this Wikipedia page. Furthermore, when looking into the identity of the elusive eighth son, I could only find the name "Thomas of Windsor", and really only on genealogy websites that all seemed to be referencing each other -- I find it somewhat likely that this is some sort of mix-up with William of Windsor and Thomas of Woodstock. Finally, and perhaps most damning, the source linked in this Wikipedia article for the claim that Edward III and his wife had eight legitimate sons... only lists seven sons. I fully intend to edit this, but I wanted to at least put this here first in case there's something obvious I'm missing. EdwardIIIHadSevenSons (talk) 13:54, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

@EdwardIIIHadSevenSons: But this article does state only seven (five surviving) sons, not eight? (I've seen that theory postulated myself, but you are correct and historians do not give it credence.)

Indeed, the source (Katherine Warner) explicxitly states: Thomas of Windsor, who was supposedly born at Windsor Castle in the summer of 1347  ... is a son sometimes ascribed to Philippa by modern writers, but he did not exist. —Fortuna, imperatrix 14:08, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

I've discovered the numpty who added it *facepalm* —Fortuna, imperatrix 14:18, 30 August 2025 (UTC)

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