"He was sad at leaving his mother and sisters but was looking forward to being with his brother," he told me.
"Poor child," I replied.
"It is tragic when he is so young to be taken from his family."
"Well, he will be with his brother," said Richard.
However that rather delicate incident was over, very much to Richard's relief.
There was no doubt that the treachery of Hastings had hurt Richard deeply and made him more aware of the dangers which surrounded him. More than ever I longed for Middleham and the everyday affairs of family life. Between them, Richard and Buckingham had decided that they must be rid of the Woodvilles. At that time Earl Rivers, Richard Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan, who had been arrested at Stony Stratford, were awaiting sentence. These men were all a potential danger to the realm. The Woodvilles must be stopped from making trouble, if there was going to be a chance of governing the country without continual conflict.
Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a man whom Richard trusted, was sent to see the execution of these men carried out.
Richard had known Ratcliffe when his grandfather was comptroller of Edward's household; and later when he had fought with Richard in the north and they were besieged at Berwick, Richard had awarded him a knighthood. Richard said he was a man on whom he could depend.
Ratcliffe went to Pontefract where the executions were speedily carried out.
I wondered what the feelings of Elizabeth Woodville were at that time. So many of her family had perished. Her two sons were in the Tower and no longer under her care. She had been a very ambitious woman and she must have known when she married the king and there was so much opposition to the match that her life would be fraught with dangerous difficulties. We had all had ample proof of her ambitions but she did indeed love her family. She had made that clear enough.
Now the death of the king had brought far-reaching changes to her life. She must have wondered with trepidation what the future held.
Meanwhile rumour was rife. The young king was not crowned. Was it not time this ceremony was performed? The government announced that in due course preparations would be made for the coronation. It was unfortunate that, in view of the troubles, it had been necessary to postpone it.
There were even rumours as to what was happening to the king and the Duke of York until they were seen on the Green before the Tower practising shooting arrows. Then the rumours died. There would soon be a coronation. The Woodvilles had always been unpopular so not too much sympathy was wasted on them.
The general opinion was that the Protector was a serious man -not attractive and lovable like his brother, but serious-minded, and men seemed to respect him. Moreover, the late king had found him so reliable that he had left the government of the country in his hands.
The death of a king which left a boy on the throne was an uneasy situation. It had risen before when Henry the Fifth had left a baby to follow him. And what trouble that had caused! Now they had a wise protector. He might not be charming and handsome like his brother, but if he were a wise ruler, what did that matter?
That was the mood of the people when Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, made his extraordinary announcement. He came to see Richard at Crosby's Place and was with him for a long time. Then Richard sent for the Duke of Buckingham and the three of them were together all the morning. I knew that something of great importance was happening. It was much later in the day when I was alone with Richard and I begged him to tell me what was happening.
He hesitated for a moment or two and then, seeing my hurt expression at being shut out of. his confidence, he said: "It is so extraordinary ... so ... so wild. I cannot believe it, and yet Stillington knows. Do you remember, he was in the Tower for a while after George had made those statements against my mother's virtue?"
I cast my mind back. It had happened at the time the Duke of Clarence had been found dead in a butt of malmsey. We had wondered why Stillington had been arrested in the first place, and then released so suddenly.
"I remember," I said.
"I know now what that was all about, and it is disturbing, Anne. It is alarming in a way. The amazing possibilities ..."
"Please tell me calmly, Richard," I said.
"The bishop says that Edward was not indeed married to Elizabeth Woodville and that those boys in the Tower are bastards."
"But that is impossible!" I cried.
"No ... very plausible in truth, knowing Edward. And when you hear how it happened you will agree. Edward was very young at the time. You know how reckless and impulsive he could be where women were concerned. It would not the first time he had been so overcome by passion that he threw away all caution. Apparently what he did was marry a woman named Eleanor Butler, and although she went into a convent later, she was alive when he went through a form of marriage with Elizabeth Woodville ... which means that there was no true marriage to Elizabeth and her children are illegitimate."
"I cannot believe that, Richard."
"Stillington says he performed the ceremony with Eleanor Butler."
"Can this be proved?"
"Stillington swears it."
"And this Eleanor Butler... who was she?"
"She was no goldsmith's wife. She was the daughter of the great John Talbot, Earl of Salisbury, and widow of Sir Thomas Butler. She must have been older than Edward and apparently a lady of virtue because she would not submit to him without marriage. Hence he took this reckless step."
"If this is true ..."
"If this is true," he repeated, turning to me, his eyes gleaming, "you know what it means."
"It means that you are the king." He nodded.
"Oh, Richard," I cried in dismay, "it cannot be."
"If it is true, it must be."
A terrible feeling of foreboding swept over me. I tried to lose it in disbelief.
"The king would never have done such a thing."
"He would, Anne. You know he would. He chose to forget his marriage to Eleanor Butler. The affair was long over; she had retired to a convent; she was as good as dead. He became besotted by Elizabeth Woodville. She insisted on marriage, so he went through a form of marriage with her."
"And all those children ..."
"Let us face it. They are illegitimate. They must be, if the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was no true marriage."
"What will Elizabeth Woodville do?"
"Shed some of that arrogance, that insufferable pride mayhap. The upstart is reduced to what she was before the Icing raised her up."
"Will the people accept this?"
"Everyone must accept what is true. Anne, I see you are full of disbelief."
"Why did not Stillington say this before?"
"I believe he did."
"When?"
"He must have let it out to Clarence. Oh, don't you see, Anne? That is why Clarence died in the Tower. It comes back to me now. Think back to the time of George's death."
"I remember he said that Edward himself was a bastard."
"Yes, that calumny against our mother. George said Edward was the result of a liaison between our mother and a man of low birth. You know my mother. Do you believe that?"
"I should find it very hard to."
"Exactly. That was one of George's fabrications. This is different. Casting my mind back, I remember how Edward went to visit him in the Tower. It was the night of his death. Edward came back. He was stunned. I had never seen him like that before. Now I know what happened. Stillington must have spoken to Clarence of the king's marriage to Eleanor Butler, and when Edward went to see Clarence in the Tower, Clarence told Edward that he knew this. The next morning Clarence was found dead in a butt of malmsey."
"You mean Edward ordered him to be killed!"
"It was a good enough reason, surely?"