It is a curious accident of history that the two principal opponents of the 15th-century English civil war known as the Wars of the Roses now lie on opposites sides of the choir of St George's Windsor. The Lancastrian king Henry VI was murdered in 1471 by his Yorkist rival Edward IV and his body was taken to Chertsey Abbey. But following Edward IV's death it was brought to St George's Chapel in 1484 and a popular cult quickly developed around it, fuelled by stories of visions and miraculous cures. Besides visiting the shrine for cures, devotees could also protect themselves against the plague by fasting on Tuesdays.

Henry VII attempted to have his ancestor canonized but the process dragged on beyond his death and eventually floundered in the 1520s. He also planned to be buried beside the saint, first at Windsor and then, when Westminster Abbey successfully laid claim to Henry VI's body, at the Lady Chapel there. But in fact Henry VI never was translated to Westminster and his body still lies at Windsor.