CHAPTER X
REIGN OF KING RICHARD III
King Richard was a young man in his thirtieth year when he came to the throne. During the previous ten years he had acquired considerable administrative experience, and had shown himself to possess ability, powers of application, and resolution. He was extremely popular in the north of England, where he had generally resided.
Young Richard was not tall, of slight build, with one shoulder a little higher than the other, but not so much as to be noticeable or to cause weakness. He was a formidable adversary in battle. The portrait at Windsor is so remarkable that it must have been taken from life. The eyes are a little closed, and give a thoughtful, almost dreamy look. The other features are regular. The lips thin and firm, the chin prominent. The whole expression is that of a thoughtful and earnest man, firm, resolute, and fearless. Dr. Parr remarked on the strong likeness between Richard III. and Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent. His wife Anne inherited great beauty from the Nevills and Beauchamps, but she was fragile and delicate.
The young nephews
On July 4, 1483, King Richard III. and Queen Anne removed to the royal lodgings in the Tower, where their nephews Edward and Richard were residing. Owing to his illegitimacy the eldest boy, who had been proclaimed King and soon afterwards set aside, could not retain the titles of Wales and Cornwall, nor could the younger one continue to have the royal title of York. The younger boy had also lost his claim to the Mowbray titles of Norfolk and Nottingham by the death of the little Mowbray heiress to whom he had been betrothed. Those titles justly passed to the representatives of the aunts who succeeded Anne Mowbray as the heirs of that family, the Ladies Howard and Berkeley. Their sons were created Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Nottingham respectively, on June 28. But Edward, the eldest boy, retained the earldoms separately conferred on him by his father, of Pembroke and March.
It was the King's intention to bring his nephews up and provide for them as became their rank and their near relationship to himself. 'He promised that he would so provide for them, and so maintain them in honourable estate, as that all the realm ought and should be content.'[[1]] The allegation that they never left the Tower is derived from the insinuations of very unscrupulous enemies.