Prince Edward

Prince Edward, Prince of Wales was a minor villain in the movie Bravehear. He was the son of King "Longshanks" Edward of England.

Some years after his father had a number of Scottish nobles murdered, Edward's father arranged for him to marry Princess Isabella of France. A number of people in the royal court speculated that in order to conceive a child that Longshanks would have to take care of the matter himself as Edward seemed to have little interest in his wife.

Edward was vain and arrogant, often concentrating on minutiae while leaving more important matters of state to his advisers while his father was out of the country fighting wars. While he desperately sought his father's approval, he was terrified of his father at the same time due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. This led him to commit atrocities in order to pacify rebellious Scots led by William Wallace.

Edward's incompetence ultimately led to a crushing defeat at Stirling, and later enabled the sacking of York. The murder of Edward's chief adviser (and implied lover) led Edward to try to attack his father, only to suffer a vicious beating at the hands of his father.

Despite all the abuse and the continued setbacks Edward remained loyal to his father even as his father's health problems caught up with him. Both he and his father were horrified when the captured William Wallace was able to summon the strength to shout "Freedom" before being beheaded. Longshanks died and Edward became King Edward II. In 1314 Scots defeated Edward's army at Bannockburn and Scotland retained its independence for several centuries afterwards.