In many ways she could be described as the mother of the British royal family.

A blood ancestor to every monarch since Elizabeth of York, queen consort to Henry VII, she survived one of history’s most bitter family feuds and married the King of England, despite her common background.

And it all started in Maidstone – the town where Elizabeth Woodville spent chunks of her childhood.

A portrait of the Edward IV’s wife, made famous by the BBC production The White Queen, was uncovered by staff at the Maidstone Museum and Bentliff Art Gallery two weeks ago.

The discovery has bought her links to the town back to life: her father Richard, the first Earl Rivers, owned Mote Park and the original Mote House.

Samantha Harris, collections officer at the St Faith’s street museum, said: “We’ve had the picture for quite a while, but it was not until we did an audit last week that we realised who it was.

“Staff here were aware of her links to the town, but finding this picture has bought it back into our minds. It’s amazing to think someone so important spent her formative years here.

“The picture itself, though, I am afraid, is not an original. The artwork is not contemporaneous to her life, I suspect it was part of a history book written several centuries later.”

Elizabeth was born in 1437 and took King Edward IV to be her husband, a move that saw the park and house become a royal possession.

The marriage caused great tension between Edward and Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as The King Maker, who subsequently raided the land which came as Elizabeth’s dowry.

Despite bearing her husband three sons, and sharing her blood with the next 18 generations of royalty, her eldest male child Edward V only reigned for three months before Elizabeth’s brother-in-law Richard III seized the crown.

Elizabeth is believed to have subsequently played her role in helping Henry VII defeat King Richard by wedding her daughter, also called Elizabeth, to the first Tudor king.

Since then her blood has flowed through the veins of every monarch.

She was grandma to Henry VIII, England’s most notorious King, and is great (x18) grandmother to the latest member of the royal household – Prince George of Cambridge.

The picture is currently not on display but the museum told the Kent Messenger they have plans to unveil it to the public as soon as possible.