Neville was from the beginning a Yorkist since his mother was the sister of King Edward IV father, Richard of York.

Neville was one if the most trusted and most powerful supoorters of Edward IV. When Edward married Elizabeth Woodville, tensions started to rise. Neville had wanted a french princess for the king, but Edward favoured an Burgundian alliance, probably on behalf of his father in law. With Edward giving increasing power to the family of his wife, the Rivers, Neville became more and more sidelined. So he tried to put Edward's brother George on the throne - which failed. After being openly in rebellion reconciliation seemed not possible. With his elder daughter married to George, his only prospect for power was an alliance with the house of Lancaster. With french support Neville and Margaret of Anjou invaded England and set up a regime under Henry VI. Here Neville was the "shadow-ruler" he probably wanted to be under Edward. Well this didn't last long: Edward was able to take the throne back and in the end Neville died in his last battle.