ROYAL SCANDALS

THAT THREATENED THRONES

- Alice Barnes-Brown

From illicit relationships to illegitimate children, these affairs put entire kingdoms at risk

Where royalty goes, scandal, duplicity and drama usually follow. Ultimate power, combined with wealth and inevitable human frailty, create the prime conditions for affairs of the heart as well as the state. Kings, queens, princes and princesses often find themselves at the mercy of their own longings - perhaps caught up in a tragic tryst, or even manipulated by their clever objets de desir to act as a puppet monarch for ambitious courtiers. Love, lust and lies are often the making of downfall - whether an ancient pharaoh or a 20th-century absolute monarch, no one is immune from scandal.

THE KING’S MAN Robert de Vere's disastrous downfall 1384 – 1394

Sometimes, becoming the king's right-hand man isn't always a winning strategy, as Robert de Vere found out. The dashing young noble - the earl of Oxford and Lord Great Chamberlain - rapidly became a favourite of Richard II when he ascended the throne in 1376. De Vere convinced the grandiose King Richard to give him more and more lofty titles, such as the marquess of Dublin and duke of Ireland - he was then able to boast that he was the first Englishman to hold those positions.

However, de Vere’s ascendancy angered the nobility. The title of duke was typically reserved for close relatives of the monarch, which de Vere was not. De Vere continued his rakish path by initiating lascivious affairs and attempting to divorce his wife Philippa, the king's first cousin. A French chronicler called Froissart wrote: “This duke of Ireland twists the king round his finger and does what he likes in England.”