14. The Purple Wedding Was Based On Eustace Of Boulogne
I, for one, didn’t think The Purple Wedding was all that disturbing, but that’s mostly because I had been waiting for Joffery to die for several seasons by that point. At The Purple Wedding, Joffery marries Margaery Tyrell and carries on in his normal Joffery way, with immature antics and threats to anyone he pleases, but mostly Tyrion. Finally, Joffery sips from his goblet of wine. This results in him gasping and grabbing at his throat. He turns a gross shade of purple and finally dies, making several audience members, myself included, very happy to be rid of one of the show’s top villains.
In 1153, England was experiencing a civil war, as both King Stephen of England and his cousin, Empress Matilda, believed that they were the rightful heirs to the throne. Both of them had sons, and both of them hoped their son would be on the throne following Stephen.
Prince Eustace, son of Stephen, arrive at Cambridge Castle for a dinner, and after his first bite of food, he started choking and died. Many believe that he was poisoned, quite possibly by Matilda to, err, stack the odds in favor of her son becoming king. After Prince Eustace’s death, Stephen and Matilda reconciled and Stephen named Matilda’s son, Henry, as the new heir to the throne.
Martin has actually stated that the death of Prince Eustace served as inspiration for Joffery’s death scene.
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