Eadred was King of the English from 26 May 946 until his death in 955. He was the younger son of Edward the Elder and his third wife, Eadgifu. When his elder brother, Edmund I, was killed in 946, Edmund's two sons, Eadwig and Edgar, were young children, so Eadred became king. He suffered from ill health in the last years of his life and died in his early thirties, having never married. He was succeeded in turn by his nephews, Eadwig and Edgar.