Edward the Confessor (Old English:Ēadweard Andettere, Latin:Eduardus Confessor; 1003 – 5 January 1066) was among the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066.

The son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, Edward succeeded Cnut the Great's son – and his half brother – Harthacnut, restoring the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut conquered England in 1016. When Edward died in 1066, he was succeeded by Harold Godwinson, who was defeated and killed in the same year by the Normans under William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Edgar the Ætheling, who was of the House of Wessex, was proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but never ruled and was deposed after about eight weeks.