'Game of Thrones' prequel 'House of the Dragon': Who is Daemon Targaryen's first wife Lady Rhea Royce?
The premiere of ‘House of the Dragon’ introduced us to all the major players of the Targaryen dynasty and the roles they’ll play moving forward. One of the most integral parts of House Targaryen is King Viserys’ brother Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) who was set to become the new heir to the throne. However, things didn’t turn out in the same way that he would have expected them to be and Daemon was sent back to his wife at Runestone by the orders of the king.
This was the second instance in the episode that we heard about Prince Daemon’s wife, but we never get a chance to see her on the screen. Now that he has left the kingdom, along with Caraxes and his mistress, it will be interesting to see how his wife, Lady Rhea Royce, will react once he reaches Runestone. If you are one of those who don’t know much about Lady Royce, don’t worry, we have you covered.
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Let’s dig a little deeper to know about Prince Daemon’s wife and what role she plays in ‘Dance of the Dragons’.
Who is Lady Rhea Royce and when did she marry Prince Daemon?
Lady Rhea Royce was the Lady of the Runestone and the leader of the House Royce during the reign of King Jaeherys and King Viserys I Targaryen. It was Queen Alysanne Targaryen, the grandmother of Viserys and Daemon, who wanted to have a strong relationship with House Royce and decided to wed her grandson Prince Daemon to Lady Rhea. Although their marriage was considered to be one of the most important steps in the history of both houses, unfortunately, it couldn’t be successful because of Daemon’s personality.
According to the book ‘Fire & Blood’, Daemon never liked Vale of Arryn and felt that it was “boring”. Meanwhile, he soon developed a dislike for his wife and started calling her his “bronze b***h”, a mocking reference to the ancient armor of the Royces. The feelings were mutual and Lady Royce didn’t have any love or affection toward Daemon as well. In 101 AC, Lady Royce became the Lady of Runestone and began her reign. On the other hand, Daemon went to his brother King Viserys and asked him to set aside his marriage, but Viserys denied the request. While spending a few days at Westeros, he acquired the Lady Mysaria as a mistress and impregnated her in 105 AC. As we saw in the first episode, Daemon was told to go back to his wife at Runestone and he didn’t disobey his brother’s orders. He went there, along with his mistress.
The relationship became even sour when they met each other again and in a few years, Daemon thought that he has had enough of the Vale and his lady wife and once again, requested Viserys to set aside his marriage. However, this time, he went to the king with a proposal of getting married to the king’s daughter and his niece, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen.
How did Lady Rhea die?
In 115 AC, Lady Rhea fell from her horse while hawking and smashed her skull onto a rock. At first, everyone believed that she died instantly, but she lingered for nine days before finally feeling well enough to leave her bed. However, as soon as left her bed, she collapsed on the floor and died within an hour of rising from the bed.
Who plays Lady Rhea in ‘House of the Dragon’?
According to reports, Lady Rhea Royce is being portrayed by the ‘Shadow and Bone’ actress Rachel Redford. Even though IMDb and other sites don’t have any information regarding this, Rachel’s Instagram account confirms that she is indeed a part of ‘House of the Dragon’, but it’s not confirmed which role she’s playing. Redford is relatively young in the entertainment industry and began her acting career in 2014 with a movie called ‘The Riot Club’. Since then, she has been a part of titles like ‘The Testament of Youth’, ‘Gap Year', and ‘The Return of the Yuletide Kid’.
Meanwhile, her first major acting role came in 2021 when she was cast as Fruszi in the highly popular Netflix series ‘Shadow & Bone’. It’ll be interesting to which role she plays in HBO’s fantasy epic.
'House of the Dragon' returns to HBO with a new episode every Sunday at 9 pm EST.