Britain's Blood Crown

Britain’s Bloody Crown: Series 1 Historian Dan Jones tells the story of the Wars of the Roses, a 30-year civil war between the House of York and House of Lancaster during which the crown changed hands seven times. Using a combination of documentary and drama.

The Mad King
Dan Jones begins by looking at the reasons for the start of the conflict, revealing it was not caused by scheming Yorkists and belligerent Lancastrians trying to snatch the crown, but by two people fighting to preserve the rule of the ineffective King Henry VI - his smart French wife Margaret of Anjou and his powerful cousin Richard, Duke of York.

The Kingmaker Must Die
The continuing story of the Wars of the Roses. Dan Jones reveals how in 1461, six years after the conflict began, Henry VI had his crown snatched away by the young Edward IV - a plot masterminded by the Earl of Warwick, a baron known as the Kingmaker. However, when the monarch and his mentor fell out, Warwick kicked Edward off the throne - and incredibly reinstated Henry VI. The presenter reveals what happened to cause the turbulence between the two men.

The Princes Must Die
Historian Dan Jones examines one of the most infamous chapters of the Wars of the Roses, asking whether Richard III really did kill the Princes in the Tower in 1483. At the time of Edward IV's death, his younger brother Richard was an English hero, a great military leader who had shown unswerving loyalty to the crown. So what could have happened to change him into a child-murdering tyrant in just three months?

A Mothers Love
The Wars of the Roses ended in August 1485 when Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the battle of Bosworth. However, Henry would never have become king and founded the Tudor dynasty without his mother, Margaret Beaufort. Historian Dan Jones concludes his history of the feud by revealing how the widow kept her only son safe as England descended into chaos and why she embarked upon a bold but risky plan to place him on the throne