Hastings Week: In search of King Harold's forgotten wife

​Edith the Fair, or Edith Swanneck as she was known, was the hand-fasted wife of Harold. It was she who identified his remains on the battlefield and ensured he was properly laid to rest.

She is re-created locally as an often overlooked statue in Grosvenor Gardens, St Leonards, where she is holding Harold’s prone body.

A local group The Friends of Edith have been formed with intention of throwing more light on this forgotten woman.

This weekend sees the group’s second Edith Festival taking place at local venues as part of Hastings Week.

Ian Jarman, founder of the Friends of Edith said: “This year, following the success of last year’s inaugural event, the Festival has been expanded to now include eight presentations by well-known public figures over three days.”

There are talks taking place at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery on Friday October 6 with tickets available from Eventbrite. Saturday sees a series of talks and presentations taking place at the Kino Teatr in Norman Road St Leonards, from 12 noon.

Acclaimed film maker Andrew Kötting will be in conversation with writer Ian Sinclair at the Kino at 7pm. Andrew directed the 2017 film Edith Walks, which imagines a journey by Edith, from Waltham Abbey, where Harold is buried, to the site of the Battle of Hastings and on to the statue on St Leonards seafront.

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On Sunday morning at 11am, Ian will recount the story of Edith at the statue in St Leonards.

Ian said: "We are extremely proud to be able to present to the community and visitors of this Town such a magnificent range of talks, presentations, theatre pieces, films and conversations/discussions by a wonderful selection of historians and artistes. We hope it will give people the opportunity to find and explore some of the meaningful cultural and historical connections which underpin our busy lives today and help to make us who we are. And that is a fitting legacy today for Edith, an important but once-forgotten woman from a millennium ago.”