Michael Bell-Pouradier

How so? Henry Bolingbroke was also a Plantagenet, the eldest son of John of Gaunt, Edward III’s third son. Edward III’s second son, Lionel, had only a daughter, Philippa, whose sons were Mortimers. Richard II had no children of his own, so what would one have done anyway to preserve the Plantagenet dynasty after his eventual death — childless — than to find an heir from a cadet branch? Even if Roger Mortimer (Philippa’s son) may have been Richard’s presumptive heir, why would Henry not be viewed as part of the “true Plantagenet bloodline” as the son of a son of Edward III?