The Murders of Richard III - Elizabeth Peters [5]
“Two men warned Richard of what was happening. One was Lord Hastings, his brother’s old friend and drinking companion. The other was the Duke of Buckingham, of royal descent himself, who had been forced to marry one of the queen’s upstart sisters.
“Richard moved like lightning. He caught up with the young king’s entourage, arrested the boy’s Woodville relatives, and escorted young Edward to London. The queen rushed into church sanctuary, taking the other children with her. Later she was persuaded to let the younger boy join his royal brother. The two kids were lodged in the royal apartments in the Tower, which was the conventional place for kings to reside in before their coronations. Up to this time, Richard’s behavior had been perfectly reasonable and forthright.”
“Richard the Forthright,” murmured Jacqueline.
Thomas pretended he had not heard.
“Then, around the middle of June 1483, all hell broke loose. England was astounded to learn that Edward the Fourth had never been married to Elizabeth Woodville. He had entered into a precontract with another lady, and in those days a precontract was as binding as a marriage ceremony. That meant that all Edward the Fourth’s children were bastards, and that young Edward the Fifth had no right to the throne.
“The Tudor historians claim Richard invented this story, but all the evidence indicates that it was true. The man who broke the news was no fly-by-night flunky of Richard’s; he was one of the great prelates of England, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The story was accepted by Parliament and embodied in a formal decree, Titulus Regius, that proclaimed Richard’s right to the throne. Both his brothers were dead; Clarence’s children were barred from the succession because their father had been executed as a traitor; and if Edward’s children were illegitimate, the rightful heir was Richard himself.”
“Oh, that’s all right, then,” said Jacqueline. “If the boys were bastards, Richard had every right to smother them.”
“Damn it, he didn’t smother them!” Thomas felt his face reddening. He got control of himself with an effort. “The boys were seen, playing in the Tower, in the summer of 1483. Except for a few doubtful references in the official royal account books, that is the last anyone ever heard of them.
“In 1485, two years later, Henry Tudor landed in England. Thanks to the treachery of the Stanleys, Richard was killed at Bosworth and Henry became King Henry the Seventh.
“Now, what would you have done if you had been Henry? Here you are, occupying a shaky throne in a country seething with potential rebellion. Your claim to the throne comes via your mother, who is descended from an illegitimate child of a king’s younger son. There are a dozen people still alive who have stronger claims than that. The man you succeeded is dead, but he is by no means forgotten, especially in the north of England. You propose to strengthen your claim by marrying young Elizabeth, Richard’s niece, but a lot of people think she is illegitimate; and if she is not, then her brothers, if they are still alive, are the real heirs to the throne. There have been rumors that the boys were killed, but nobody knows for sure what happened to them.
“If you had been Henry, surely one of your first moves would have been to find out the truth about the princes. The Tower of London is in your hands. You would look for those pathetic little bodies, and question the attendants who were on duty when they were killed. The Tower is a huge fortress, full of people—servants and warders and scrubwomen and cooks and officials. There are dozens of people still alive who must know what happened. You can’t eliminate two state prisoners without someone noticing that they have vanished between sunset and sunrise.
“Henry did nothing of the sort. I don’t think he could—because the boys were still alive when Henry entered London in 1485. But they wouldn’t stay alive, not for long.”
Jacqueline nibbled a piece of bread and butter.
“Someone confessed to the murder, didn’t he?” she asked tentatively.
“Yes—a man named