decided as soon as possible. The marriage of the princess to Ralph Scrope was annulled in 1486 as not being in the interests of the new Tudor dynasty. As the queen's sister, Cecily came to play an important ceremonial role at court. She carried her first nephew, Arthur, Prince of Wales, during his christening on 24 September 1486. The nobles accompanying the princess at the ceremony were her half-brother Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset and her paternal cousin John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln; Cecily's train was carried by the wife of the Marquess of Dorset, Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington and 2nd Baroness Bonville, whose family sided with the House of York in the Wars of the Roses. At the end of the baptism ceremony, Cecily, at the head of the solemn procession, returned the prince to the nursery, where she introduced him to his parents. On 25 November 1487, Cecily, the only one of all the queen's sisters, carried her train at her coronation in Westminster Abbey. By her position, she was the second woman at the ceremony (not counting the queen) after her aunt Catherine Woodville wife of the King's uncle Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford; in addition, Cecily rode to and from the ceremony with her aunt in a carriage that immediately followed the queen's carriage. At the coronation banquet, Cecily and Catherine Woodville sat at the queen's table with the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Morton. It is known that during this period, like her other sisters, Cecily was paid a pension from the queen's funds, and she also had great privileges and great freedoms: thus, during walks, Cecily, who accompanied her sister as a Lady-in-waiting, was accompanied by her own ladies. Until her second marriage, Cecily served her sister as First Lady of the Bedchamber. Second marriage Among the nobility present at the Queen's coronation was John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, heir to the ancient Welles family and younger half-brother of the King's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. Although John himself and his family were supporters of the House of Lancaster, he was able to win the favour of Cecily's father at the end of his life and was among the people who guarded the body of the late King Edward IV at night. During the reign of Richard III, John was in opposition to the King: he participated in the failed