Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 28 November 1290) was the queen of Edward I of England. She was also Countess of Ponthieu from 1279 until her death in 1290.
Edward and Eleanor married at the monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos on 1 November 1254. Several of her relatives came to England soon after her marriage. Henry III of England spent much money on her relatives. This made the people not like her, even though she could not stop it.
In the 1260s, the Second Barons' War started between Henry III and his barons. This divided the kingdom. Eleanor supported Edward. Edward was captured at Lewes and imprisoned. Eleanor was honourably kept at Westminster Palace.
In 1270 Edward and Eleanor left to join his uncle Louis IX of France on the Eighth Crusade. Louis died at Carthage. They spent the winter in Sicily. Then the couple went on to Acre in Palestine.
They left Palestine in September 1272. In Sicily that December they learned of Henry III's death. Edward and Eleanor returned to England and were crowned together on 19 August 1274.