The Wheel of Fortune (novel) the auspices of the National Trust. Shortly after the inauguration ceremony, the Godwin family enjoys one last dance in Oxmoon's now restored ballroom before closing for the night. Howatch acknowledges that this novel is in fact a re-creation in a modern form of the story of the Plantagenet family of Edward III of England, the modern characters being created from those of his eldest son Edward of Woodstock ("The Black Prince") and his wife Joan of Kent, John of Gaunt and his mistress, later wife, Katherine Swynford, Richard II (son of Edward of Woodstock), Henry IV (son of John of
Edward the Black Prince Thomas Holland: Edward had several natural sons before his marriage. With Edith de Willesford (died after 1385): With unknown mothers: Edward is often referred to as the "Black Prince". The first known source to use the sobriquet "Black Prince" was the antiquary John Leland in the 1530s or early 1540s (about 165 years after the death of the Black Prince). Leland mentions the sobriquet in two manuscript notes in the 1530s or early 1540s, with the implication that it was by that date in relatively widespread use. In one place, Leland refers in Latin to ""Edwardi Principis cog: Nigri"" (i.e.,