Henry VII gained the throne of England in 1485. Known as the 'unknown Welshman' Henry Tudor had attacked the forces of King Richard III, and at the Battle of Bosworth he defeated the King, who was slain on the field. He united the families of York and Lancaster by marrying the daughter of Edward IV.

Henry VII saw himself as a master of foreign policy, with his arranging of the marriage of the French Catherine of Aragon to firstly his son Arthur, and then after Arthur's death, to his son Henry (the future King Henry VIII). This marriage was to have far reaching effects, resulting eventually in Henry VIII's removing the Church of England from Catholic rule.

Henry VII's other diplomatic initiative, in marrying his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland, was to have just as important a result – with the eventual Union of the Crowns in 1603.