Royal Favours – How Kings Elevated Men Others Hated

The episode looks at how the personal favourites of England’s monarchs from Edward II to Charles I came to wield real power, upsetting baronial rivals and reshaping court politics. We trace cases like Gaveston, Despenser, Carr, Buckingham, asking why kings repeatedly relied on intimate confidantes over traditional nobility and what political costs followed. By weighing contemporary chronicles against later accounts we reveal how these favourites both secured royal agendas and sowed the seeds of constitutional conflict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices