English monarch King Richard the Second was BOTD in 1367. Born in Aquitaine in English-occupied France, the younger son of Edward Prince of Wales, the deaths of his father and elder brother brought him first in line to the throne. He succeeded his grandfather Edward III as King of England in 1377, aged ten, with councillors governing on his behalf until he reached his teens. Edward appears to have played a role in suppressing the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the first assertion of his right to rule independently. Much of his early reign was spent defending his throne from a French invasion, led by his ambitious uncle John of Gaunt. By 1389, he governed with relative peace, promoting culture and the arts at court. He married Anne of Bohemia in 1382. Their marriage was childless and she died in 1394 of the Bubonic plague. Richard had a close (and possibly sexual) relationship with his councillor and favourite Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford. In 1399, after John of Gaunt’s death, Richard disinherited and exiled Gaunt’s son Henry Bolingbroke. Undeterred, Bolingbroke invaded England in 1399, overthrowing and imprisoning Richard and crowning himself Henry IV. Richard is thought to have starved to death in prison, dying in 1400 aged 33. Richard’s posthumous reputation has been heavily influenced by Shakespeare’s 1595 play Richard II, portraying him as a cruel and irresponsible monarch who only attains greatness following his downfall. Historians and biographers have also debated contemporary accounts of Richard’s effeminacy and eccentricity, arguing variously that he was homosexual, transgender and mentally ill.