Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland
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His Grace The Duke of Ireland KG |
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Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, fleeing Radcot Bridge, 1387, taken from the Gruthuse manuscript of Froissart's Chroniques (circa 1475)
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| Born | 16 January 1362 Robert de Vere |
| Died | 22 November 1392 (aged 30) Louvain |
| Spouse(s) | Philippa de Coucy Agnes de Launcekrona |
| Mother | Maud de Ufford |
| Father | Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford |
Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, and 9th Earl of Oxford KG (16 January 1362 – 22 November 1392) was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England. He was the ninth Earl of Oxford and the first and only Duke of Ireland and Marquess of Dublin.
Robert de Vere was the only son of Thomas de Vere, 8th Earl of Oxford and Maud de Ufford. He succeeded his father as 9th Earl in 1371, and was created Marquess of Dublin in 1385. The next year he was created Duke of Ireland. He was thus the first marquess, and only the second non-princely duke (after Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster in 1337), in England. King Richard's close friendship to de Vere was disagreeable to the political establishment. This displeasure was exacerbated by the earl's elevation to the new title of Duke of Ireland in 1386. His relationship with King Richard was very close and rumored by Thomas Walsingham to be homosexual.
Robert, Duke of Ireland, was married to Philippa de Coucy, the King's first cousin (her mother had been the sister of the King's father, Edward, the Black Prince), and also had an affair with Agnes de Launcekrona, a Czech lady-in-waiting of Richard's Queen, Anne of Bohemia. In 1387, the couple were separated and eventually divorced; Ireland took Launcekrona as his second wife.
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