John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter

John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, was an English nobleman and half-brother of Richard II through their mother Joan of Kent. He married Elizabeth of Lancaster, a daughter of John of Gaunt, and received major offices and titles during Richard’s reign.

After Henry IV deposed Richard II in 1399, Holland lost the dukedom and joined the Epiphany Rising, a plot to kill the new king and restore Richard. The rising failed, and Holland was captured and executed in January 1400.

Anne O’Brien’s The King’s Sister makes John Holland the husband of Elizabeth of Lancaster and, through his position as Richard II’s half-brother and favourite, places their marriage across the fault line that divides the royal family. When Elizabeth’s brother Henry Bolingbroke seizes the throne, Holland’s loyalty to Richard makes him a dangerous political liability and forces the novel to treat dynastic affection, marriage and treason as parts of the same family crisis.