What-If Richard, Duke of York Had Become King?
Tudors Dynasty & Beyond
RedTop Media / Rebecca Larson
4.4 • 869 Ratings
🗓️ 1 February 2026
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We know him best as the father of Edward IV and Richard III, and as the husband of Cecily Neville. But in October 1460, everything changed. The Act of Accord named Richard, Duke of York, heir to the throne of Henry VI. Just two months later, he was dead - killed at the Battle of Wakefield.
In this episode, Amy and I step into the counterfactual and ask: what if Richard had survived? What would England have looked like if the Duke of York had lived to become king?
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Rebecca's Substack: https://rebeccalarson.substack.com/
Amy's Substack: https://amymcelroy.substack.com/
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Hosts:
Rebecca Larson
Amy McElroy
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Off the Record. |
| 0:08.5 | I'm Rebecca Larson. |
| 0:10.5 | And I'm Amy McElroy. |
| 0:12.4 | And you know what? |
| 0:13.6 | Hi, Amy. |
| 0:14.6 | I just have to say hi real quick. |
| 0:16.5 | It doesn't feel right without saying it. |
| 0:18.7 | It's Sunday and we're together again. |
| 0:21.8 | And last week was such a fun episode. |
| 0:24.9 | We talked about what if Mary Queen of Scots had not been executed by Elizabeth I. |
| 0:32.5 | And I'm curious, can you let us know what are listeners saying about that episode? |
| 0:38.4 | Yeah, I've actually got some comments. So one of them isn't specifically linked to the Mary Queen of Scott's |
| 0:44.5 | episode, but I love this comment. So Sherry says, these videos make me so happy. It's a perfect |
| 0:50.9 | Sunday morning, a cup of coffee, my sweet dog and learning history with two |
| 0:55.6 | of my absolute favorites. I feel like having a morning coffee clutch. Oh, cute. I love that. |
| 1:02.3 | I think that's okay. But with the actual episode, so there's, um, there's some questions that arise |
| 1:09.4 | from it, which we love. |
| 1:11.5 | So Douglas asks, if the execution of Mary Queen of Scots was not a precedent, would Charles |
| 1:17.5 | the first have been executed? |
| 1:19.6 | So that's something that we can think about. |
| 1:23.3 | Yeah. |
| 1:24.1 | And then Cindy says, thank you ladies. |
... |
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