THE WORLD'S MOST EVIL PEOPLE (True Crime) by Rodney Castleden Read Free Book Online

York (who himself had a strong claim to the throne of Henry VI) and his wife, Cecily Neville. The young Richard spent much of his childhood at Middleham Castle, which he later made his home when he married.
    Richard’s father was killed at the Battle of Wakefield when Richard was still a boy, and after that he was taken into the care of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’. It was relatively common in the middle ages for young noblemen to be farmed out and brought up in the households of other princes; it was the precursor of the English public school system. Warwick the Kingmaker was closely involved in turning Henry VI off the throne and replacing him with Richard’s oldest brother, Edward, as Edward IV. At Edward’s coronation, Richard was made Duke of Gloucester.
    However, when Edward decided to marry Elizabeth Woodville, Warwick disagreed strongly. She was a commoner and he could not allow the marriage to go ahead. He therefore drove Edward out of England. Warwick proclaimed Henry VI King again in 1470, but within a year Edward returned, fought back and reclaimed the throne in 1471.
    As a boy, Richard was of no consequence until this event, when he supported his brother against Warwick, shared his exile and took part in his triumphant return. He fought loyally and effectively on his family’s behalf, the Yorkist cause, in several battles in the Wars of the Roses.
    During his brother’s reign, Richard worked with steadfast loyalty, using his great skills as a military commander to support the king, and was rewarded with huge estates in the north of England and the title of Duke of Gloucester. He thus became the richest and most powerful nobleman in England. The other surviving brother, George Duke of Clarence, was by contrast disloyal to Edward IV, who had him executed for treason.
    After the Battle of Tewkesbury, which the Yorkists won, Richard married Anne Neville - the widow of Henry VI’s son, Prince Edward, and the daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker. It was in fact Richard and his brother George who in cold blood had stabbed Prince Edward to death after the battle. Richard was also present in the Tower of London shortly afterwards, on the night of 21 May, 1471, when Henry VI was murdered, and may have been responsible for that assassination too. Richard and Anne had one son, Edward Plantagenet, who died aged 11 in 1484, just before his father. Anne also died before her husband.
    Edward IV died suddenly and unexpectedly in April 1483. The king’s sons (Richard’s nephews), the 12-year-old Prince Edward and the nine-year-old Prince Richard, were apparently next in the order of succession. In view of Richard’s conscientious loyalty to his brother’s cause, it seems remarkable that he moved to claim the throne for himself. Richard arranged for the young boy-king, Edward V, to be escorted to Stony Stratford, where he met him and his younger brother. He took personal charge of the two boys, accompanied them to London and lodged them in the Tower, then more a royal residence than a prison.
    Richard appointed himself Lord Protector and Chief Councillor (in effect Prime Minister). Something even more extraordinary followed. At a meeting of the Royal Council in the Tower on 13 June, 1483, Lord Hastings was arrested for treason. He was the king’s chamberlain and had regularly visited the king; he was also a known anti-Ricardian. A few minutes later, he was executed by beheading outside. Three other alleged conspirators, Lord Rivers, Richard Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan, were executed elsewhere.
    After ruthlessly removing all possible opposition at court, Richard had a statement read out, outside St Paul’s Cathedral, declaring that he was the rightful king, that his brother Edward IV had been illegitimate and that therefore the two princes were excluded from the line of succession. The declaration was startling for many reasons – not least that Richard was not just denouncing the boy-king