Prince Richard of Conisburgh (1375-1415) - Earl of Cambridge 1414-1415

Richard was the second son of Prince Edmund Langley, Duke of York and Princess Isabella of Castile. He married Anne, the daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, a son of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and Princess Philippa of Clarence (daughter of Prince Lionel of Antwerp). She was the sister of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March and heir to the Throne of King Richard II. Prince Richard was knighted in 1406 and briefly acted as the English Ambassador to Denmark. He was also made Almoner of England and Constable of Brimpsfield Castle (Gloucestershire). However, despite acquiring his family's secondary title of Earl of Cambridge, Richard probably lived largely in the shadow of his elder brother, the Duke of York. So, in 1415, he initiated a rather dangerous scheme to raise his profile. Along with his step-mother's husband, Lord Scrope of Masham, and also Lord Grey of Heton, he conspired in the Southampton Plot, designed to ovverthrow King Henry V in favour of the Earl of March, just before the English troops set sail to conquer France. However, Cambridge's brother-in-law was, apparently, not too keen to be elevated to status of monarch and, upon discovering the treachery, immediately informed the King. The conspirators were tried at the Red Lion Inn in Southampton and all executed for treason. They were buried in God's House Chapel in the town. The Earl left a three-year-old son who later became Duke of York.

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