The Wedding of Aegon III and Daenaera brought a struggle over the young king’s marriage to a public conclusion: Aegon Targaryen the Younger chose a six-year-old Velaryon girl, and the regents refused to let his Hand overturn that choice. The wedding joined the royal house to Daenaera’s family, but its immediate political significance lay in Peake’s failure to control the king’s decision and the succession it was meant to serve.

The choice at Maiden’s Day

At the Maiden’s Day selection, Daenaera Velaryon stood before the king in pale silk, Myrish lace, and pearls. She was six, an orphan whose mother had died in the Winter Fever and whose father had died in the Stepstones. When Aegon returned her smile and complimented her, his preference was unmistakable. He then summoned his cupbearer, Gaemon Palehair, who announced that the king would marry Daenaera. The other maidens completed their turns, but the decision had already made the parade a formality; Henrietta Woodhull was sobbing as she curtsied on her way out.

The Hand’s failed challenge

Unwin Peake had no choice but to accept the king’s selection in public. At the next day’s council meeting, however, he argued that Daenaera’s age defeated the purpose of the marriage: it would be years before she could bear a trueborn heir, leaving the succession unsettled. He called for the king’s choice to be set aside in favor of a bride of childbearing age, presenting the change as a duty owed to the realm and protection against the king’s youth.

Lord Rowan challenged the proposal by asking whether Peake meant his own daughter. The other regents did not support the Hand, and the council held to Aegon’s decision. The betrothal was announced the following day, as the disappointed maidens left the city. Peake’s office gave him influence, but in this instance it could not make the regency reverse the king’s choice.

The wedding and its diminished audience

Aegon Targaryen the Younger wed Daenaera on the last day of the 133rd year since Aegon’s Conquest. The streets were lined with cheering crowds, though far fewer people attended than had come out for Aegon’s earlier wedding to Jaehaera. The Winter Fever had carried off almost a fifth of King’s Landing’s population, and the wedding procession faced bitter winds and snow flurries. Those who came nevertheless welcomed the new queen, responding to her waves and smiles with delight.

Baela Targaryen and Rhaena Targaryen rode just behind the royal litter and drew exuberant cheers of their own. Unwin Peake followed farther back, his grim expression noted by a few observers. The contrast made visible the different outcomes of the episode: a queen chosen by the king and welcomed by the crowd, and a Hand whose preferred arrangement had been rejected by both the king and his fellow regents.

Dynastic and political significance

Peake’s objection exposed the marriage’s dynastic purpose. He feared that a child bride would leave the succession clouded for years, while his proposal would have replaced the king’s choice with a bride deemed more immediately useful for producing an heir. The regents’ decision to proceed preserved Aegon’s authority over this choice, even though the stated dispute concerned the realm’s future stability.

The wedding also marked a change in the royal household after Aegon’s marriage to Jaehaera. Its reduced audience reflected not a lack of public welcome for Daenaera, but the population loss caused by the Winter Fever. The event thus joined a private dynastic bond to the larger conditions of the kingdom: a young king asserting his preference, a council resisting the Hand’s intervention, and a capital still diminished by disease.