Philippa of Hainault - (24 June 1314 - 15 August 1369) was the daughter of Willaim Count of Flanders and Joanna de Valois. She became the queen consort of King Edward III of England and became the mother of a large family. There is a totally ridiculous fantasty doing the rounds that she was 'black', based on a spurious description of her which has NO CITATION, in historical records, and the claim put forward by ONE historian that she MIGHT have had ONE Moorish ancestress several hundreds of years before Philippa's birth. Philippa was certainly not beautiful, she appears to have been matronly and round faced with a wide thin lipped mouth and a double chin but she was reported to be kindly and Edward certainly loved her. None of her many sons became king in turn, although her grandsons did. Queen Philippa and her husband King Edward III are the direct lineal ancestors of 80 out of every 100 Englishmen and women alive today.
