Madness, miscarriages and incest: as in House of the Dragon, real-life royal families have seen it all throughout history
- Written by Kristie Patricia Flannery, Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University

House of the Dragon chronicles the fall of the Targaryen dynasty some two centuries before life on the continent of Westeros is upended by war and a mini ice age – the events dramatised in HBO’s Game of Thrones.
The new series’ first episode powerfully suggests that political instability and dynastic decline begin with disease...