Isabella and the Strange Death of Edward II

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: An insightful take on an infamous murder

Edward II's painful and gruesome death is one of the best-known pieces of historical trivia. Less well known, though, is the role played in his murder by his wife, Queen Isabella. In a colourful narrative which provides an evocative setting for a Mafia-like scramble for wealth and power, Paul Doherty traces the life of Philip IV of France's daughter, who was only twelve when she married the bisexual Edward. She supported her husband in his many domestic and foreign crises, but later fled abroad where she is said to have deposed and murdered her husband. However, Doherty intriguingly suggests that Edward in fact escaped Berkeley Castle to live out the rest of his life in peace...