SHED NO TEARS
I watched The White Queen and the White Princess on television recently, where the theory is that Elizabeth Woodville, the princes' mother, substituted the younger prince, Richard, with a peasant who resembled him.
There are so many things wrong with this theory, I don't know where to begin.
The first thing that springs to mind is that a fifteenth century peasant boy would be unable to read and write, would have a very different accent to the prince, and would have no idea how to behave. He wouldn't have fooled anyone for long.
The other thing wrong with the theory is that the princes' mother arranged the marriage, along with Margaret Beaufort, of her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, to Henry Tudor. She did this to secure her family's position on the throne and such a marriage would have given a much better claim to Henry Tudor. Is it likely she would have done that had she thought for one moment that one of her own sons still lived?
When it comes to the mystery of the fate of the princes, all we can have are theories. My theory, in this book, is different but just as good as any other.
Certainly James Tyrell confessed to having murdered the boys, on the orders of Richard III, but confessions taken in medieval times were unreliable. Mark Smeaton confessed to sleeping with Anne Boleyn, when he was nowhere near the place stated at the time. If you have ever been to the Tower of London, especially when the dungeons were open (they were closed for safety reasons some years ago), you would possibly imagine that a suspect would confess to anything in order to stop the torture.
Anyway, it is a theory, and I hope you enjoy reading it.
The story revolves around a fictitious character, Lord Nicholas Rainham, who was a friend of King Edward IV. But when that King died suddenly, his friends started to disappear, being executed without trial on the orders of the King's brother, Richard. Nicholas knows he will be next and is forced into hiding.
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