Rhaena and Androw Farman’s Secret Wedding

Rhaena and Androw Farman’s Secret Wedding was a private marriage on Fair Isle in 49 AC, contracted without the Crown’s knowledge or leave. Rhaena, a twice-widowed former queen and mother of the king’s heir, married the much younger second son of a minor lord. The secrecy protected a match that might not have been approved, but its discovery strained Rhaena’s relationship with her mother and provoked the king’s Hand.

The Match and Its Setting

The wedding took place early in the Year of the Three Brides, a year remembered for peace, plenty, and marriage after a period of conflict. Rhaena was twenty-six and had been widowed twice; Androw Farman was seventeen, in his first marriage, and described by the chroniclers as comely, amiable, and utterly besotted with his bride. It was Rhaena’s third marriage.

The ceremony was swift and held beneath the open sky on Fair Isle, home of House Farman. Androw’s father, Marq Farman, Lord of Fair Isle, presided, and the service was conducted by the family’s own septon. The scale and setting marked the wedding as a family affair rather than a royal occasion. This stood apart from the broader practice of royal matchmaking: Rhaena’s queens had previously helped arrange marriages between noble houses to bind the realm together, but this match was made without the court’s participation.

A Deliberately Small Gathering

Only Lyman Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, and his wife, Jocasta Lannister, attended as great lords. Two of Rhaena’s former favorites, Samantha Stokeworth and Alayne Royce, hurried to Fair Isle to stand with her. Androw’s high-spirited sister, Elissa Farman, was also present; the remaining guests were bannermen and household knights of House Farman or House Lannister.

The king and his court knew nothing of the marriage while it was taking place. News reached them only days after the wedding feast, when a raven from Casterly Rock reported what had happened. The delayed announcement made the secrecy tangible: the ceremony, feast, and bedding had already sealed the match before the Crown could respond.

Reaction and Political Consequences

Alyssa Targaryen was reported to have been deeply offended that she had been excluded from her daughter’s wedding. Their relationship was never as warm afterward. Rogar Baratheon was furious that Rhaena had remarried without the Crown’s leave, which in practice meant without his consent as Hand. The account also notes that permission might not have been granted: Androw was the second son of a minor lord, while Rhaena had twice been queen and remained the mother of the king’s heir. Rogar had unmarried brothers and nephews of suitable age and lineage, a circumstance that may explain both his anger and the wedding’s secrecy.

Jaehaerys Targaryen and his sister Alysanne responded differently. They rejoiced at the news, sent gifts and congratulations to Fair Isle, and ordered the bells of the Red Keep rung in celebration. Their response made clear that the wedding’s political reception was not uniform: the king and his sister welcomed the union even as the queen mother and Hand resented being bypassed. The marriage thus joined two people while exposing competing claims over who had the authority to shape a royal widow’s future.