English monarch King Edward II was BOTD in 1284. Born in Caernarfon Castle in Wales, he was the fourth son of King Edward I of England, becoming heir to the throne after the death of his brother Alphonso. The young Edward was a disappointment as a potential heir: intellectually dull, unimpressive in combat, and obsessed with his lover and favourite Piers Gaveston. He became king in 1307, marrying Isabella of France the following year. His reign was dominated by arguments with the barons over his divine right to rule and his favouritism to Gaveston. He was deposed in 1326 in a campaign led by Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He died in 1327 in mysterious circumstances. Popular legend says he was murdered via the insertion of a red hot poker in his anus. (Weirdly, the poker is still on display in a dining hall at Oxford University). Christopher Marlowe’s 1594 play Edward II presented Edward as an expressly gay monarch whose passion for Gaveston led to his downfall. The play was filmed by Derek Jarman in 1991, starring Steven Waddington as Edward, drawing comparisons between Edward’s and Gaveston’s prosecution and 1980s-era gay rights campaigns.