Very good thoughts, actually, very good thoughts, most of them... I think only the last two ideas are already getting too much on the speculative level, the start was better
And yes, it is really meant so that the mother was close to the King only later, and long time before that, there was this war thing. Or if you want me to formulate it in a different way: the King definitely was not close to the mother at the earlier time.
The sentence which you end by many questionmarks is entirely correct
And as for earning the hate, good thoughts as well, or at least on the right track... and the blood was really that involved.