The marriage of Edward II and Isabella of France.

Edward II, the first Prince of Wales, was born in Wales in 1284. His parents had a very happy marriage. However, the young prince was raised under the domination of his mother, before she died in 1290, and his sisters, for he had no surviving brothers and his father was frequently absent. When his father was present, he was known to have violent displays of temper. Some historians believe that these factors caused Edward to become very reliant upon his friends, especially Piers Gaveston (perhaps the model for Philip in the film) and the Despensers. This, however, served to be his downfall.

Edward I did not like his son's friends, nor did he trust the younger Edward, and so he did not give his son much opportunity to gain experience in governing. Therefore, when Edward II acceded, he was not well versed in ruling his kingdom.

He inherited many problems from his father's reign, and his weakness as king furthered those problems. He had Scotland to deal with, but he lost her when the Scots were victorious at Bannockburn in 1314. This was a blow to his reputation. Additionally, war with France was ongoing and expensive, alienating the nobles, who had already mistrusted Edward I. All of this combined with Edward's infatuation with Piers Gaveston resulted in the nobles' attempt to control the king's expenditures and to exile Gaveston. Edward II refused to cooperate, which resulted in Gaveston's murder in 1312 (Edward I had been dead for five years by that time; only his ghost could have had anything to do with Gaveston's murder). After Bannockburn, the English nobles were so disgusted with Edward that they seized power under the leadership of the earl of Lancaster. Edward and his new friends, the Despensers, who were father and son, fought back and were the winners of civil war (1321-2). Edward had Lancaster executed for his rebellion.

Despite his success in regaining the crown, Edward continued to anger his nobles, and French gains in Gascony did not help his reputation. Interestingly, it was his wife, who had fled to France with her son the prince, who led an invasion against Edward along with Roger Mortimer. In 1327 Edward was captured, imprisoned, and murdered, purportedly by the use of a hot poker which left no marks on the body, allowing the assertion that he had died of natural causes to be made.

Tratto da: http://bay1.bjt.net/~melanie/brave.html#Will_Wall