John of Gaunt III's rule was becoming unpopular due to high taxation and his affair with Alice Perrers, political opinion closely associated the Duke of Lancaster with the failing government of the 1370s. Furthermore, while King Edward and the Prince of Wales were popular heroes due to their successes on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had not won equivalent military renown that could have bolstered his reputation. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera (1367), for example, his later military projects proved unsuccessful. When Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded as Richard II of England, John's influence strengthened.
Alice of Majorca Alice of Majorca Alice of Majorca (1341 – after 1376) was a Cypriot noblewoman, the great-granddaughter of King James II of Majorca and granddaughter of King Hugh IV of Cyprus. Her husband was Philip of Ibelin, seneschal of Cyprus who was sent to prison in Genoa after his murder of Alicia's uncle, King Peter I. She became the mistress of Jean de Moustry, Grand Admiral of Cyprus. She was born in Cyprus in 1341, the only child of Ferdinand, Viscount of Omélas, and Eschive de Lusignan, eldest daughter of King Hugh IV of Cyprus and Alix of Ibelin. Her paternal