Godfrey, a character in The Royal Romance and The Royal Heir series, is Madeleine's father and Adelaide's husband. He is the former Duke of Karlington. He is first seen in Book 3, Chapter 3.
Appearance
Godfrey has gray hair, blue eyes and olive skin. He wears a green coat over a black turtleneck shirt.
Personality
Before you meet Godfrey, Drake describes him as "the worst kind of noble. Pretentious, entitled, and self-important". Hakim says that Godfrey was quite a car aficionado in the past. When he becomes part of the Royal Council in The Royal Heir, he regards foreigners as "enemies".
Chapters
The Royal Romance
Book 1
- Chapter 11: The Apple of His Eye (Mentioned)
Book 3
- Chapter 3: Allies Among Enemies
- Chapter 9: Pomp and Circumstance
- Chapter 19: You Are Cordially Invited
- Chapter 20: A Warm Reception
- Chapter 22: Happily Ever After
The Royal Heir
Book 1
- Chapter 3: Your Kingdom Awaits
- Chapter 11: The Prodigal Father (Determinant)
- Chapter 12: To Love and to Cherish (Mentioned)
- Chapter 14: The Announcement
- Chapter 18: The Last Apple Ball
- Chapter 19: Truth and Lies
Book 2
- Chapter 1: Labor of Love
- Chapter 2: First Days (Mentioned)
- Chapter 3: Welcome to the World (Mentioned)
- Chapter 4: The Royal Tour (Mentioned)
- Chapter 5: Her Royal Highness (Mentioned)
- Chapter 6: To Catch a Traitor
- Chapter 7: Thanks (But No Thanks) (Mentioned)
- Chapter 13: How Do You Like Them Apples? (Mentioned)
- Chapter 16: In Love and War
Book 3
- Chapter 3: Forever Hold Your Peace (Mentioned; Determinant)
- Chapter 5: Crossing the Finish Line (Mentioned)
- Chapter 6: The Princess and the Plea (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
- Chapter 7: Ill Will Hunting (Determinant)
- Chapter 14: Upping the Ante (Mentioned)
- Chapter 15: The Enemy of My Enemy (Mentioned)
- Chapter 16: Devil in the Details
- Chapter 17: The Crown Regent's Coronation (Mentioned)
- Chapter 18: Crowning Glory (Offscreen; Physical Appearance Determinant)
The Royal Finale
- Chapter 1: Hidden in Plain Sight (Mentioned; Determinant)
Relationships
Adelaide Amaranth
Adelaide is his wife through a political marriage. They are always seen arguing and disagreeing with each other. In The Royal Heir, Book 3, Adelaide reveals that she is divorcing Godfrey.
Madeleine
Madeleine is his only child. He is disappointed when her engagement was broken off twice by Leo and Liam, as he did not raise her to be a "failure". You can temporarily help them reconcile and tell him that Madeleine is a "force to be reckoned with" but he is still disappointed that she is not assigned to the Royal Council at the end of The Royal Romance, Book 3.
In The Royal Heir, when his role in Queen Eleanor's assassination is revealed, Godfrey tries to persuade Madeleine to leave Cordonia with him. When she refuses and instead betrays his trust, he is hurt. In Book 3, if you tell him that she might forgive him eventually if he helps you with Barthelemy, he wonders if it's possible and decides to take the foolish chance that she might. He tells you that he raised Madeleine to love Cordonia above all else.
Your Character
He initially dislikes you for intervening in his arguments with his wife and daughter, as your reputation as a "busy body" has spread through the court. You can choose to impress him if you successfully get his family to reconcile, and he will attend your wedding at the end of the Unity Tour.
In The Royal Heir, he is still condescending towards you, calling your wedding a disaster because Anton Severus had managed to kidnap you (with or without your spouse). Because he does not trust the other countries courting an alliance with Cordonia, he decides to take point on security measures which you do not question. However, when you and your friends discover he killed Queen Eleanor and try to detain him, he kicked you down to evades capture and uses said security measures to cause the Royal Palace to go into lockdown, which also caused a worse condition that you went into premature labor.
Unable to break through his security measures, Liam is forced to sign a marriage treaty with Auvernal for your health and the life safety of your child. With Auvernal as your temporary allies, you and your friends lure Godfrey out of hiding and arrest him. You have no say when King Bradshaw and Queen Isabella decide to bring him to Auvernal for sentencing, but in Book 3, you and your friends decide to extradite him back to Cordonia.
Godfrey tells you that he has kept tabs on Barthelemy throughout the years, just to have leverage in case he needed it in the future. Godfrey thinks he was a fool for not believing Barthelemy would continue down his dark path and that Barthelemy has lost his way. With Godfrey's intel, you have the physical proof you need to expose Barthelemy's crimes publicly and to stop him from taking your daughter.
Eleanor
During Eleanor's time, Godfrey opposed many of her reforms. She wanted to redistribute noble tithes to the people and she had dreams of alliances with other kingdoms. Unfortunately for Godfrey, her death caused Constantine to become more paranoid and shut Godfrey out. At the end of The Royal Heir, Book 1, it is discovered that Godfrey caused Eleanor's death by gifting her a poisoned goblet which she drank from.
Barthelemy
Although Bertrand remembers his father, Barthelemy, being close to Godfrey, Hakim believes they had a falling out shortly after Eleanor died. At that point in time, neither man was in Constantine's favor and Constantine raised House Amaranth's taxes sharply. Godfrey started spending most of his time in England instead and Barthelemy was angry with him for leaving.
Constantine
In the past, Godfrey was one of Constantine's esteemed vassals and Constantine kept his counsel. Constantine even considered naming Liam after Godfrey, although Eleanor objected and chose Liam's name herself. However, Godfrey and Constantine had a falling out, which Hakim suspects was more personal. Hakim doesn't believe Constantine suspected Godfrey of being behind Eleanor's death though.
Before Godfrey had decided to move back to his estate in England, he and Barthelemy met with Constantine. He tried to convince Constantine that Cordonia looked weak by being lax in their negotiations with neighboring countries. However, when Barthelemy brought up Eleanor's name, Constantine became belligerent and told them both not to speak about his wife or how to run the kingdom.
Other Looks
Trivia
- He is an English nobleman who is also Cordonian due to his marriage to Adelaide.
- He shares his title with Tristan Richards from the Desire & Decorum series.
- The name Godfrey is of German and French origin, which means "God's peace" or "good peace".
- In The Royal Heir, Book 1, Chapter 19, it is revealed that he killed Eleanor by poisoning a goblet which he later gave to her. As a result, his crimes include murder, conspiracy and treason.
- When his crimes were revealed, King "Liam" revoked his title. This assumes the Kings of Cordonia share joint authority over Godfrey with Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and thus either one of them could punish Godfrey this way.
- In The Royal Heir, Book 2, Chapter 13, Landon reveals that the Auvernese Honor Guard extradited him without approval from or notification to the Cordonia Royal Council. He states because Queen Eleanor was Auvernese, they have some legal authority to carry out his sentence. The Royal Council insisted he be put away for life but did not risk Auvernal's good graces to fight over the location of the prison.
- In The Royal Heir, Book 3, Chapter 5, Hakim mentions that Godfrey owns a trio of classic Ferraris.