King Richard III, England's last Plantagenet King

King Richard III (1452-1485) - His Troublesome Reign.

Just before King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York were murdered in the Tower of London, Richard, Duke of Gloucester had himself proclaimed King Richard III after telling the people that the young princes had died suddenly. He was aware that he was not popular so he made some good laws to try and make the people forget all the wicked things he had done to become king. This didn't work, and Richard III had a short and troublesome reign.

Richard's first problem was a cousin of his, the Duke of Buckingham, who had helped him become king in return for certain promises. Richard did not keep any of the promises so the enraged Duke assembled an army together and started a civil war to punish him. Unfortunately for Buckingham, things did not work out. He was captured by Richard's forces and executed a short while later.

King Richard III's other cousin was Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and was a much nicer person and many people thought he should be the king. Richard did everything he could to harm Henry but nothing worked as he was abroad, out of Richard's reach.

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, soon thought that the time was right to come back to England and wrote to friends asking if they would support him on his return with money and an army of followers. They quickly agreed and Henry landed at Milford Haven on the west coast of Wales with men and money. When Richard heard this he got ready an army himself to fight Richmond. The two armies met on the field at Bosworth in Leicestershire.

Just before the resulting battle King Richard III spent his last night thinking about all the cruel murders and wicked things he had done in the past. There was Prince Edward of Lancaster, Henry VI who was murdered in prison, and Richard's own brother Clarence. Through the night he continued to think of all the friends of the little princes he had killed in the Tower of London, his cousin Buckingham and lastly, his wife, Queen Anne. All this made him very tired in the morning so he possibly did not fight so well as he might have done. He did fight bravely, however, but he was killed on the field of battle of Bosworth Field. King Richard's crown was found on upon the field and Lord Stanley, who had earlier deserted from Richard, placed it upon the Earl of Richmond as their whole army shouted 'Long live King Henry the Seventh'. Now England had a British prince, Henry Tudor who was now King of England.

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