23. Henry VI’s Relatives Get Rid of Him
Warwick the Kingmaker’s triumph was short-lived: Edward IV returned to England in 1471, and raised a counter-rebellion. At a critical moment, Warwick was betrayed by his son-in-law, George, Duke of Clarence, who had a change of heart and defected back to his brother, Edward. The two sides met in the Battle of Barnet in April of 1471, a Lancastrian defeat in which the Kingmaker was killed.
Another and final Yorkist victory at the Battle of Tewkesbury the following month confirmed Edward IV’s restoration to the throne. The unfortunate Henry VI was quietly murdered to eliminate the possibility of further trouble from Lancastrian loyalists. And to be thorough, Henry VI’s only son, the teenaged Henry of Lancaster, was also killed.