Dan Jones
speaker
3,287 appearances
15 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2026
last heard 8 Sep
Dan Jones’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 15 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 6.
Appearances
But it would also be unreasonable not to suggest that the grief is in some way political as well as parental.
As a usurper, Richard's security depends on having an heir to the throne, an obvious political path lying ahead for him and for the country.
It's true he has a bastard son called John of Pontifract.
He's acknowledged him as his offspring, and is planning to appoint him as captain of Calais.
But Richard has made a whole song and dance about how illegitimacy is terrible and counts out anyone with ambitions to the throne.
So he's bound by his own mendacity here.
And there's no chance of bringing John of Pontifract into the conversation about the future of the dynasty.
Richard's best hope now is to start again with Queen Anne.
and hope they can produce another legitimate heir to the crown.
In the meantime, it makes it all the more urgent that he stamps on anyone else who might be getting ideas about their own right to the throne.
Which in effect means one person.
Henry Tudor.
Amid the madness of grief that Richard is suffering for his son and heir, there is at least some promising news about Henry.
He's back in Brittany, still protected by Duke Francis.
But Duke Francis is on his last legs, and his will to keep prodding at Richard is ebbing away.
So in the autumn of 1484, Richard manages to negotiate a deal.
If the Bretons hand over Henry Tudor, then he'll grant the Earldom of Richmond, which Henry claims as his, to the Dukes of Brittany.
It's a neat little bit of horse trading rooted in history.
The Earldom of Richmond was first created for Breton Pals of William the Conqueror, and for generations it was associated with Brittany.
So sentimentality wins out, and for a perilous moment it looks as though Henry Tudor is going to be sold back to Richard for the price of a nice estate in Yorkshire.
Showing 661–680 of 3,287 · page 34 of 165
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