George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence

Also known as: George duke of Clarance / George duke of Clarence / lord George duke of Clarence · Family: House of York · Role: younger son of Richard, Duke of York · First appears: Henry VI 65

Around 1461, George Plantagenet and his brother Richard III were sent overseas to Utrecht, where Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy received them, remaining there until their brother Edward IV won the crown. Afterward, Edward IV created them dukes. In 1469, George married Isabel Neville, eldest daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and soon joined Warwick against Edward IV. Around 1470, while Warwick’s fleet lay before Calais, the duchess of Clarence gave birth to a son.

In France, George joined Warwick, Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, Margaret of Anjou, and Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales in an alliance sworn to restore Henry VI or his son. He and Warwick returned to England proclaiming Henry king, and Parliament settled the crown on Henry and his male heirs, then on George and his male heirs. George later moderated his hostility toward Edward IV, keeping his promise, and in 1471 secretly left Warwick’s cause, approached Edward, and reunited with him and Richard III.

Within two years, Edward IV consented to George’s death, and George was attainted, sentenced, and drowned in a butt of malmsey. Some believed that Richard III helped bring about his death. George left two children, Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick and Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury; later, through Margaret of York, he also sought Mary of Burgundy as a wife.