welcome to the ancestral findings podcast he was important in getting the York's on the
throne in the wards of the Roses he also squandered his position here's his story
also known as George Duke of Clarence George Plantagenet was one of three York brothers
sons of the Duke of York who believed they were destined to win the throne of England together and
be a united front as the nation's guardians they believed this because of an atmospheric illusion
they saw in the sky before a pivotal battle in the Wars of the Roses that made it appear as if
they were three sons these brothers believed they each represented one of those sons and
would together uh sure in a new age for England under a new royal dynasty born October 21 1449
to Richard Duke of York and Sicily Neville George was originally one of four sons of the couple who
survived to adulthood the second son Edmund died in battle along with their father shortly before
the York saw their most important victory yet in the Wars of the Roses after losing their father
and Edmund that left only three York brothers Edward George and Richard as the eldest Edward
became King when new york's had their decisive victory George and Richard were instrumental in
securing that victory for Edward and they worked hard on their brothers we have to keep his rule
secure and accepted by the English people however George was spoiled and arrogant from the beginning
he is sought to have been their mother's favorite son if not child as he and his brothers had many
sisters Cicely always favored Jorge over her other boys even Edward the King so Jorge grew
up with a sense of entitlement his brothers might not have had this made him a problem to
his kingly brother pretty soon after he began his rule norge was always jealous of Edward who became
King Edward the fourth but he was unquestionably loyal to him at the beginning of his reign this
loyalty seems to have begun to waver when Edward revealed he had married one of his own subjects in
secret the Lady Elizabeth Woodville George became jealous over the influence Elizabeth and her many
relations had on the King once the marriage was made public when their cousin Richard Neville a
man who almost single-handedly made conditions perfect for Edward to take the throne became
infuriated at the secret marriage when he had been working hard to secure marriage to
a foreign princess for the King he believed since he had put Edward on the throne he could remove
him as the next eldest brother Richard looked to George as the potential new king with his cousin
Richard whispering promises of power in his ear George demanded his brother Edward allow him to
marry Richard's daughter Isabel Edward refused because he knew George had the potential to be
problematic he wanted to marry George to a foreign noblewoman or minor royal and get him out of the
country George was furious at the royal refusal of his marriage request not only because Isabel
and his sister Anne were heirs to a vast fortune but because he was not used to hearing the word
no thanks to their mother's indulgence of him from birth so with his cousin Richard's encouragement
George left for France with Richard and his family and married Isabel abroad Richard promised George
the throne and George's mother Cecily seems to have gone along with the plan she said nothing
when Richard and George started a rumor that the King was illegitimate the result of an affair with
a French Archer Cecily had early in her marriage if Cecily had not agreed with the plan to replace
one of her sons on the throne with another she as a noblewoman with a reputation to protect would
likely have spoken out against the rumor instead she remained quiet and may even have encouraged
George herself and speaking it a planned invasion of England with an army that would support George
did not take shape as everyone hoped in France George fully planned to march against his brother
the thought of being King too enticing to resist he was bitterly disappointed when he found not
enough military force would support him to make him a viable candidate for the throne
leaving Richard and the rest of Richard's family in France George went back to England
and reconciled with his brother Queen Elizabeth Woodville was against this reconciliation as one
of the initial skirmishes George had been involved in with his cousin Richard before
they left for France resulted in the capture and beheading without trial of her father and one of
her brothers by Richard and George's small army on their orders an illegal execution yes but the
King insisted George was better as an ally than an enemy and forgave him George never made any
secret of his dislike of the Queen however and despite the reconciliation he remained aloof and
distant with her and the king ruling his own large estate and the people on it as if he were their
king instead of Edward when his wife Isabel died a few months after giving birth to their fourth
child he accused a local woman of poisoning her and had her executed without a trial on his orders
this illegal act along with George's continuing to talk about Edward suppose an illegitimate see and
his intimations that the Queen and her mother may engage in witchcraft eventually forced Edward's
hand as a brother he could deal with George's bad attitude but as a king he could not he had to
set an example for the people of England that the rule of law applied to everyone regardless of who
they were feeling he had no other choice Edward ordered George to be executed it is not known how
their mother Cecily reacted but as George was her known favorite child it cannot have been a pretty
scene when she found out the news that one of her sons was going to have another one killed
Edward it affords orge the dignity of a private execution within the tower with no crowds watching
legend says George was allowed to choose his own method of execution and that he chose drowning
in a barrel of his favorite malmsey wine there is some credible historical evidence that this
may have been true however since it was done in private and no records survived or have been found
describing it many historians believe George was simply beheaded privately within the tower as much
as George wanted to be king it is ironic that his older and younger brother both became kings
while he himself did not after Edward's death a few years after George's their youngest brother
Richard declared Edwards marriage to Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate and their children bastards
who were ineligible for the throne then took the throne himself as King Richard the third Richard
was only King for two years however before being killed in battle against Henry Tudor who married
one of Edwards daughters and began the Tudor dynasty because every monarch who has sat on the
English throne since that time has been descended from Henry Tudor and his wife through their
daughter Margaret it means every monarch has also been directly descended from Edward the fourth
and Elizabeth Woodville George and Isabel do have descendants today but they are not royalty two of
their children died as infants and their surviving son was put in the tower by Henry Tudor when he
was 10 years old because he was a legitimate royal claimant whose right to the throne was arguably
greater than Henry Henry had him executed 14 years later for no other reason than being someone that
people liked and supported and might get behind to put on the throne in Henry's place that left
George and Isabel's daughter Margaret Margaret was married off into a family who was loyal to
the tutors and had many children while she was the nanny to her young cousin the future Henry
the eighth's for most of his childhood and again to Henry the eighth's daughter Mary the cousin
who loved her became paranoid and turned on her in her old age because of one of her sons not
supporting his marriage to Anne Boleyn he had Margaret who was in her 60s at the time and had
never been anything but loyal to Henry executed because he could not execute her son who was out
of the country still Margaret's family went on and because of this so did George and Isabel's
line the man who wanted to be king has descendants who lived to this day while his brother Richard
the third left no descendants and the descendants of his brother Edward the fourth are still royal
George's descendants have long since passed from even the noble families and into commonality there
are people who believe George's descendants are the rightful heirs to the throne because
Henry Tudor's line was not royal or even noble on his father's side and barred from inheriting the
throne on his mother's side so the next rightful heirs should have been George's descendants the
elder representative of George's line today is a regular common man working in the building
trades and living in Australia unlike his distant great-grandfather George Plantagenet he expresses
no royal ambitions but has joked publicly about charging the Queen rent for living in his castles
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