Before his departure he went to Windsor to bid farewell to Isabella; while there he dismissed Lady de Courcy on account of excessive extravagance, and appointed his widowed niece, Lady Mortimer, in her stead, as governess and first lady of honor to his young consort.
The parting scene between the royal couple was very touching, the king lifting his wife up in his arms and kissing her repeatedly while offering words of hope and comfort.
Henry of Bolingbroke, who had been absent from England for several years, returned while Richard was away,—a most unfortunate circumstance for the royal cause. The Duke of York, who acted as regent in the king's absence, was alive to the little queen's position, and hurried her off to the fortress of Wallingford.
Attended by sixty thousand fighting men, Henry of Bolingbroke marched through England and presented himself before the very gates of Flint Castle, where Richard, with a handful of faithful knights, had fortified himself. Upon Henry's boldly demanding admittance the king agreed to allow him, with eleven others, to pass the wicket of the castle. But it was soon evident that any such precaution was unnecessary, for on looking out of the window the king beheld the army that had come to besiege him, and surrendered himself at once.
While King Richard and Henry of Bolingbroke stood in the courtyard of the castle waiting for their horses, Math, the beautiful greyhound that always accompanied the king when he rode out, and would never follow nor notice anyone else, suddenly dashed through the court, leaped upon Henry, and put both paws on his shoulders, as he had been wont to do to the king. Henry asked the meaning of his being thus selected for the animal's caresses. "Cousin," replied the king sadly, "it means a great deal for you, and very little for me; for the natural instinct of my favorite dog prompts him to fondle and pay his court to you as King of England, which you will be, and I shall be deposed."
Richard was taken to London and lodged in the Tower, where he suffered torment because he could get no information as to the fate of his Isabella. After a time he offered to resign his crown to Henry of Bolingbroke, now called the Duke of Lancaster, but received only taunts and reproaches in reply. Meanwhile "the little queen" had been removed from Wallingford to Leeds Castle in Kent. At the next session of parliament, the members remained seated at Westminster Hall, while Henry, with a number of priests, dukes, and earls rode to the Tower, dismounted in the courtyard and entered the Hall. Then King Richard, on being summoned, walked in with his crown upon his head and the sceptre in his hand, and addressed the assembly as follows: "I have reigned King of England, Duke of Aquitaine, and Lord of Ireland about twenty-two years; which royalty, lordship, sceptre, and crown, I now freely and willingly resign to my cousin, Henry of Lancaster, and entreat of him in the presence of you all to accept this sceptre." The king was then conducted back to his apartments in the Tower, and the crown and sceptre were safely locked away in the treasury of Westminister Abbey.
The following October, Henry of Lancaster assembled parliament, and was crowned with great ceremony as Henry IV. Isabella had been removed to Sunning Hill, where she was treated as a state prisoner, and kept in ignorance of the fate of her husband.
Shortly after the coronation of Henry IV. a plot against his life was discovered, and then the fate of poor Richard was sealed, as we shall see.
Henry's attendants kept constantly reminding him, by hints and insinuations, that as long as Richard lived he could not reign peaceably, until worn out with care and anxiety he wearily asked one day while sitting at table: "Have I no faithful friend who will deliver me of one whose life will be my death, and whose death my life?" After such a speech from the king it was not likely that Richard's life would long be spared. His attendants began to treat him with so little ceremony at last that the royal prisoner remarked upon it one day when he was dining; whereupon he was informed that King Henry had given new orders.
"The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee together!" exclaimed Richard in a passion, striking the attendant who had answered with a carving-knife. At that instant eight armed men rushed into the room; Richard started up, seized the weapon that the one nearest to him, held, and defended himself so valiantly that four of the attacking party were slain outright. Then while he was fiercely warding off the blows of three others, the leader of the band jumped upon the chair Richard had occupied while dining, and dealt him a blow on the back of his head that killed him instantly.