Who is Eleanora from The Reckoning and what is their importance?

Queen Eleanora of England is King Edward's wife. She is Spanish and foreign to the English people. Edward's subjects never truly accept her. She is aloof, distant, and seems largely uncaring. She has a large number of children with Edward, which the characters in the novel claim is a testament to Edward's satisfaction with her and the passion they have together. She loves Edward with devotion that she does not show her children. When Eleanor is first introduced in the novel, she has left three small children at home to follow Edward on a crusade. She is willing to not see them for years while she follows Edward, and her oldest son dies while they are away. Many of their children die as babies or small children. The surviving children are sickly all their lives.