About 1360 Edward the Black Prince desired to marry Joan the Fair Maid of Kent. Edward's parents however did not favoured a marriage between their son and their former ward. English law was such that Joan's living ex-husband, Salisbury, might have claimed any children of her subsequent marriages as his own. In addition, Edward and Joan were within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity.
The secret marriage they are said to have contracted in 1361 would have been invalid because of the consanguinity prohibition. At the King's request, the Pope granted a dispensation allowing the two to be legally married.
WI the Pope refused to grant dispensation for the marriage and it was annuled? Any subsequent children would be declared bastards with no rights to succeed... What happens when Edward predecease his father by one year? Who gets the throne? Is there any chance that England sinks to a civil war? Any thoughts?