S9 E8 | Royal Blood
From This is History: History’s Greatest Fails by Sony Music Entertainment
February 24, 2026 · 32 min · Season 9 · Episode 8
About this episode
The episode discusses the historical context of royal power struggles during the Plantagenet dynasty, focusing on key figures like Henry VI and the Dukes of York and Somerset.
Royal favourites, we want your voice notes in our new miniseries on historical failures. Look out for Producer Al’s callout post on patreon.com/thisishistory. There you can also listen to this week’s bonus episode, where we discuss the Duke of York’s super-royal credentials, and why the Duke of Somerset fails upward. Henry VI’s royal court breathes a collective sigh of relief — Queen Margaret of Anjou is pregnant. It’s a welcome addition to what remains of a vanishingly thin Plantagenet dynasty. Aside from Henry, this is the first royal birth in 50 years. The celebrations don’t last long. As 1453 rolls on, two prominent nobles are fighting to rule on behalf of an impotent king. Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset is the king’s favourite… but he’s also the man who lost Normandy. At his heels is Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, a man feared by the nobility but loved by England’s increasingly frustrated populace. The realm will soon have to make a stark choice, because a catastrophic blow to English power is imminent. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast…
People in this episode
Host: Dan Jones
Topics covered
- royalty
- historical failures
- Plantagenet dynasty
- Duke of York
- Duke of Somerset
- English power
- nobility
Keywords
- royalty
- historical failures
- Plantagenet
- Duke of York
- Duke of Somerset
- English history
- nobility
- Queen Margaret
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: patreon.com
More episodes of This is History: History’s Greatest Fails
- You may also like: Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford · June 11, 2026 · 45 min
- S10 E3 | LOVEBOMBING · June 9, 2026 · 30 min
- S10 E2 | Rise of the Woodvilles · June 2, 2026 · 33 min
- S10 E1 | A New Hope · May 26, 2026 · 36 min
- You may also like: Hidden History with Dr Harini Bhat · May 21, 2026 · 9 min
- Introducing… Season Ten of a Dynasty to Die For · May 19, 2026 · 2 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the This is History: History’s Greatest Fails podcast page.