How John of Gaunt Ruled England Without Ever Wearing the Crown | History for Sleep

He was the richest man in England, the son of one king and the father of another, and yet for his entire life he stood just one step away from a crown he never took. Tonight we follow John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, from his birth in the merchant city of Ghent to the gilded halls of the Savoy Palace on the Thames. This is the story of a fourteenth century prince who governed England in all but name during the reign of his nephew Richard II. It is also the story of a long forbidden love, kept quietly for decades and made public only in scandal, that would plant the seeds of the House of Lancaster and reshape the English throne for generations. Set against the Hundred Years War, the Peasants' Revolt, and the final chapter of Plantagenet rule, this is a slow and immersive telling for calm evenings and easy sleep.