Richard II · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Richard II by William Shakespeare.
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King Richard II
major
Also known as Richard, Richard of Bordeaux, King Richard Uncle, King Richard Cousin, King Richard Mowbray, King Richard Marshal, King Richard Fiend, King Richard Needs, King Richard Alack, King Richard Norfolk, King Richard Right, King Richard Thou, King Richard Whither, gentle Richard, Richard Alack
Richard begins the play as a king who mistakes ceremony for power, banishing his own cousin and seizing Gaunt's estates while the nobles watch in silence. His gift is language — he can turn abdication into poetry and grief into a kingdom of the mind — but that gift is also his flaw, since he would rather perform majesty than defend it. His fall from the throne to Pomfret is the play's central movement, and his long, strange farewell to his queen shows a man learning what it costs to be merely human.
Henry Bolingbroke
major
Also known as Harry Bolingbroke, Harry, Henry, Bolingbroke, Henry Hereford, Harry Hereford, Harry Duke of Hereford, Harry Duke, Hereford, Henry of Lancaster, Lancaster, Derby, King Bolingbroke, Bolingbroke Villain, proud Bolingbroke, The mounting Bolingbroke, Bolingbroke Whither, the Duke of Hereford, the Duke of Hereford that appeals me, Cousin of Hereford
Bolingbroke enters the play as an appellant hurling gages at Mowbray, a man of few words and hard purpose whose banishment only sharpens his claim. Where Richard talks, Bolingbroke acts — he kneels to the fallen king in the base court while quietly taking everything the king once owned. His rise is the engine of the play's middle arc, and his uneasy courtesy toward Richard hints at the guilt that will shadow the Lancastrian crown.
John of Gaunt
supporting
Also known as Gaunt, old Gaunt, John a Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster, Exit Gaunt, Gaunt O, Gaunt Sister, King Richard Old John of Gaunt
Gaunt is the old nobility incarnate: loyal, blunt, and increasingly powerless beside a nephew who will not listen. He tries to mediate between Bolingbroke and Mowbray, then watches his son exiled and his own estates seized, and his deathbed prophecy against Richard carries the weight of a man who has loved England longer than the king has ruled it. His exit clears the last restraint on Richard's recklessness and sets the tragedy in motion.
Thomas Mowbray
supporting
Also known as Mowbray, Thomas, Thomas of Norfolk, King Richard Mowbray, Mowbray Yea
Mowbray stands opposite Bolingbroke in the play's opening quarrel, denying the charges of misused funds and Gloucester's death while admitting a single ambush he has already confessed. He is a soldier who would rather fight than argue, and Richard's interruption of the trial by combat robs him of the only vindication he trusts. His banishment removes a dangerous witness and leaves Bolingbroke's accusation hanging over the court like smoke.
Duke of Aumerle
supporting
Also known as Aumerle, Percy Aumerle, Cousin Aumerle, Lord Aumerle, the Lord Aumerle, York Aumerle, Aumerle Princes, Aumerle Madam, Aumerle Northumberland, Aumerle Fitzwater, Aumerle Comfort, Comfort
Aumerle moves through the early court as one of Richard's close attendants, present at the lists and the abdication, his allegiance personal rather than political. When Bolingbroke takes the throne, Aumerle's grief turns to plot, and his father York's horror at discovering the conspiracy forces him into a scene of family betrayal. His arc shows how the deposition poisons even the loyal, turning affection into treason and pardon into a kind of shame.
Earl of Northumberland
supporting
Also known as Northumberland, The Lord Northumberland, my Lord Northumberland, King Richard Northumberland
Northumberland is the practical engine of the usurpation, carrying messages between Bolingbroke and the fallen king and arranging the base-court meeting where Richard comes down to traitors' calls. He is courteous, efficient, and utterly unsentimental, and Richard's parting curse — that the same skill which raised Bolingbroke will one day pluck him down — hangs over him like a sentence. His presence marks the moment when loyalty becomes a commodity in the English court.
Henry Percy
supporting
Also known as young Harry Percy, Harry, Percy, gentle Percy, Enter Henry Percy, Percy Willoughby
Percy arrives at Ravenspurgh as a young man with no memory of ever having looked on Bolingbroke, offering service he calls tender, raw, and young. That very inexperience is his currency: he can bind himself to the rising duke without the taint of older betrayals, and Bolingbroke seals the covenant with thanks and a handclasp. His eagerness to prove himself makes him a useful instrument in the rebellion's early momentum, and a figure whose fire will matter as the play turns from deposition to its aftermath.
Duchess of Gloucester
minor
Also known as Duchess, Duchess Alack, Duchess Nay
Widow of Thomas of Gloucester, who urges Gaunt to avenge her husband's murder.
Duke of York
supporting
Also known as Edmund York, stir Keeps good old York, York
Left as regent while Richard campaigns in Ireland, York commands the realm's defense and sends Berkeley to demand what pricks Bolingbroke to take up arms. He greets his nephew not with a blessing but with a rebuke, refusing the words grace and uncle from a traitor's mouth. His anguish is the play's central political bind made flesh: a man whose duty to the crown collides with his kinship to the man marching against it, and whose wavering will help decide which way England falls.
Duchess of York
minor
Also known as Duchess, Duchess Nay
York's wife, who pleads for her son Aumerle's life before Bolingbroke.
Queen Isabel
supporting
Also known as Queen
Isabel meets Richard on the road already stripped of pomp, and where he counsels her to think their former state a happy dream and cloister herself in France, she recoils at a king who would kiss the rod. She names him a lion dying that still wounds the earth, and her grief insists on the reality of what they were. Their forced parting, ordered by Northumberland, splits a twofold marriage of crown and wife, and her voice gives the deposition its most intimate cost.
Sir John Bushy
minor
Also known as Bushy
A favorite of Richard, executed by Bolingbroke for treason.
Sir Henry Green
minor
Also known as Green
A favorite of Richard, executed alongside Bushy by Bolingbroke.
Sir William Bagot
minor
Also known as Bagot, Bolingbroke Bagot
A favorite of Richard who later testifies against Aumerle.
Earl of Salisbury
minor
Also known as Salisbury, Lord Salisbury
A nobleman loyal to Richard, who brings news of Welsh defection.
Earl of Berkeley
minor
Also known as Berkeley, my Lord of Berkeley
Nobleman who meets Bolingbroke at Berkeley Castle.
Lord Ross
minor
Also known as Ross, the Lords of Ross, Ross The Earl of Wiltshire, Willoughby Ross
Nobleman who joins Bolingbroke's rebellion against Richard.
Lord Willoughby
minor
Also known as Willoughby, the Lords of Willoughby, Willoughby Tends
Nobleman who joins Bolingbroke's rebellion against Richard.
Bishop of Carlisle
minor
Also known as Carlisle, Carlisle Marry
A loyal bishop who prophesies civil war after Richard's deposition.
Lord Fitzwater
minor
Also known as Fitzwater, Aumerle Fitzwater
Nobleman who accuses Aumerle of Gloucester's murder.
Sir Pierce of Exton
minor
Also known as Exton, Sir Pierce of Exton
Knight who murders Richard II in prison, believing it pleases Bolingbroke.
Gardener
minor
Also known as Gardener
Royal gardener who compares the kingdom to an untended garden.
Keeper
minor
Also known as Servant
Prison keeper who brings Richard his food and is attacked by him.
Duke of Gloucester
minor
Also known as Gloucester, noble Gloucester
Murdered uncle of Richard, whose death drives the Duchess's plea for vengeance.
Edward
minor
Also known as Edward
Likely a reference to Edward III, Richard's grandfather, mentioned in lineage.
Duke of Surrey
minor
Also known as Surrey
Nobleman loyal to Richard, accused of treason by Fitzwater.
Sir Stephen Scroop
minor
Also known as Scroop, Sir Stephen Scroop
Loyalist who brings Richard news of Bolingbroke's growing support.
Groom
minor
Also known as Groom
Former groom of Richard's stable who visits him in prison.
Lord Marshal
minor
Also known as Marshal, the Lord Marshal, King Richard Marshal, Marshal Harry
Official who oversees the trial by combat between Mowbray and Bolingbroke.
Earl of Glendower
minor
Also known as Glendower
Welsh leader mentioned as joining the rebellion against Bolingbroke.
Earl of Worcester
minor
Also known as the Earl of Worcester
Nobleman briefly mentioned in the context of the Percy rebellion.
Mary
minor
Also known as Mary
Likely Mary de Bohun, Bolingbroke's wife, mentioned in passing.
Earl of Rutland
minor
Also known as Rutland
Another title for Aumerle, used in the deposition scene.
