Aethelflaed, also known as Lady of the Mercians, was the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great. Justifiably thought of as England’s forgotten Queen; she was a formidable leader in a shadowy history of the dark ages. She only one child, a daughter, AElfwynn, and when her husband Aethelred died in 911, she ruled Mercia alone. *

Spending much of her time in Tamworth, she raised her nephew Aethelstan here. He would go on to become the first King of all England. On 12 June, 918 Aethelflaed died in Tamworth and a few days later was finally laid to rest in St Oswald’s Priory, Gloucester, beside her husband.*

*Information from a signboard near Aethelflaed’s statue in front of Tamworth Castle