In 1394, Richard’s queen, Anne of Bohemia, died of the plague. The king was

said to be heartbroken. Richard was so distraught that he started to lose control

of his actions. He had the couple’s favourite home demolished and walloped

the Earl of Arundel in the face for being late for Anne’s funeral.

But two years later, Richard made the best of things and got married again –

to a Frenchwoman! Improbable as it seemed, he got hitched to Isabella,

daughter of Charles VI, king of the old enemy, France. It was a shrewd diplomatic

move, of course, because it cemented, for the moment, peace between

the two countries.

By now, Richard was more confident holding the reins of power – in fact, for

many he was too confident and more and more was unpredictable and illtempered.

Finally, in 1397, Richard had his revenge on the Lords Appellant,

arresting the three key Lords. One, the hated Earl of Arundel, was tried and

beheaded for treason. Another, the Duke of Gloucester, was killed in Calais,

while the third, the Earl of Warwick, was heavily fined.

Another former Appellant, Richard’s cousin Henry Bolingbroke, initially did

rather better. He was made Earl of Hereford and promised the Duchy of

Lancaster on the death of John of Gaunt. But when John died, Richard, fearful

of making Bolingbroke too powerful, went back on his promise and kept the

Duchy of Lancaster in royal hands.

The revenge on the Lords Appellant, the incident at the funeral of Anne, the

willingness to take offence, the way he surrounded himself with bodyguards –

It is difficult to see what lay behind these actions except some kind of mental

breakdown. Some thought that the cause of the trouble was the king’s grief at

the death of gentle Queen Anne. Others argued that it was a sign of deeper

derangement.

Whatever the cause, the effect was a kind of tyrannical whimsy that was

unjust, arbitrary, and hard to bear – so hard that Richard’s support ebbed

away. Bolingbroke saw his chance to act and returned to England to lean on

Richard and persuade him to abdicate. Parliament supported Bolingbroke’s

claim to the throne, and Richard found himself in prison in Pontefract

Castle. Here, a broken man (if not actually broken-hearted), Richard died.

Bolingbroke’s supporters said he had starved himself to death, but he was

probably murdered.