In Act IV, at a session of Parliament in London, Sir John Bagot, a former royalist and a devoted supporter of King Richard, accuses Aumerle of complicity in Gloucester's death and is supported by Lord Fitzwater, who alleges that Mowbray had made a similar charge. When Bolingbroke states that settlement of the quarrel will have to wait until Mowbray can be recalled to England, the Bishop of Carlisle reveals that Mowbray has died in Venice. Bolingbroke announces that he intends to depose the king, and ignoring the Bishop's protest that no subject can judge his sovereign, he summons Richard, who is deprived of his crown. When Northumberland presents him with a list of his alleged crimes, Richard refuses to read the document. The dethroned king calls for a looking glass, and after bitterly examining the face it reveals, dashes it to the ground. After Bolingbroke leaves, the Abbot of Westminster confides to Aumerle and the Bishop of Carlisle that he has devised a plan to eliminate Bolingbroke.

After Bolingbroke's coronation as Henry IV, the Duke of York discovers that his son, Aumerle, is implicated in the Abbot of Westminster's plot to murder the new king. Condemning Aumerle as a villain and a traitor and paying no heed to his wife's frantic pleas, he determines to expose the conspiracy to the king. Aumerle and his mother also speed to Windsor Castle and succeed in obtaining a pardon from the king, but Henry's mercy does not extend to the other conspirators.

Richard is made a prisoner in Pomfret Castle, where he ruefully reflects upon his fallen condition. He is murdered by Exton, who claims to be acting in accordance with the king's wishes. When Exton returns to Windsor Castle with the coffin, Henry repudiates the murderer, although he admits that he had wished Richard dead. He announces that he will make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to make amends for the deed.

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