Was Elfrida the wicked queen of later legend? Certainly, her name might have been blackened by those attacking her son, Æthelred, but enough doubt exists to suggest that she was far from blameless in the bloody, murderous events of her time.
One chronicler tells of how King Edgar, hearing of Elfrida’s beauty, sent a retainer to see if she was quite as beautiful as people said. The retainer, smitten, married Elfrida himself while telling the king that the reports of her beauty were greatly exaggerated. But when word reached Edgar that Elfrida was indeed the beauty she was reputed to be, he announced he would visit. Elfrida’s husband asked her to make herself ugly, but Elfrida did no such thing and the king was besotted in turn, arranging for the husband to meet with a convenient accident during a hunt. Widowed, Elfrida was free to marry the king.