Game of Thrones' evil King Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) was inspired by a real-life 15th-century prince, Edward of Lancaster. Game of Thrones' creator George R.R. Martin pulled from multiple sources of medieval history when he wrote his A Song of Ice and Fire cycle of novels that HBO adapted into a global blockbuster TV series. It's not surprising, then, that Joffrey, one of Game of Thrones' most hated yet unforgettable villains, had a real-life analog who lived during the Wars of the Roses.
Even among the scores of wretched characters in Game of Thrones, King Joffrey ranks high among the series' worst villains. Joffrey Baratheon was purportedly the son of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) and Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and the heir to the Iron Throne of Westeros. However, Joffrey was secretly the product of incest between Cersei and her twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). After Cersei plotted to have Robert killed, Joffrey ascended to the Iron Throne. Thanks to the machinations of his family, especially his grandfather Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), Joffrey survived the War of the Five Kings, but his brief reign was marked by the boy's abject cruelty and rampant foolishness. Casting aside his intended bride, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), Joffrey married Lady Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) but he was poisoned and died on his wedding day at the age of 19. It was later revealed Joffrey's murder was a plot by Margaery's grandmother, Lady Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg).
Game Of Thrones Theory: Tywin Let Joffrey's Death Happen
Joffrey bears a great deal of resemblance to his real-life counterpart, Edward of Lancaster. Also known as Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, he was the son of the mad King Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou. Like Joffrey, Edward was rumored to be the product of an illicit affair between his mother and one of her loyal supporters, possibly Edward Beauford, 2nd Duke of Somerset or James Butler, 5th Duke of Ormonde. However, King Henry never doubted Edward's paternity just as Robert Baratheon never suspected Joffrey wasn't his son, although he didn't like the blonde prince very much.
Joffrey's maliciousness and lust for violence were also inspired by Edward, who had a touch of madness (like his father King Henry VI) and was in favor of beheading his enemies and waging war. The Ambassador of Milan once wrote, "This boy, though only 13 years of age, already talks of nothing but cutting off heads or making war, as if he had everything in his hands or was the god of battle or the peaceful occupant of that throne."
But unlike Edward, Joffrey was a sniveling coward at heart and he died from being poisoned, whereas the Prince of Wales was killed on the battlefield during the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 at the age of 17. However, King Joffrey did get to bask in the glory of his short but contentious reign over the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, whereas Edward of Lancaster died before he could become King of England.
Joffrey's resemblance to Edward of Westminster is just one of the many parallels between Game of Thrones and the Wars of the Roses. The conflict between the Lannisters and the Starks is clearly inspired by the war between the Lancasters and the Yorks over the throne of England between 1455-1485. George R.R. Martin's labyrinthine plots involving mad kings, brutal wars, backstabbings, murders, stolen heirs, and bloodshed between two families are drawn from the real-life tug-of-war over who got to be King of England that resulted in the rise of the Tudor dynasty. But it's safe to say, thanks to the worldwide popularity of Game of Thrones, King Joffrey Baratheon is currently more famous than his true-life counterpart, Edward of Lancaster.