The Sun in Splendour

'It was not very clever/ he said. 'There was no room for you all in the town! You should have done better than that, Rivers.'

'My lord Gloucester, it was so. . . .'

Richard held up a hand. 'I do not wish to parley with you. I know full well what you planned to do . . . you and the Queen. You disregarded my brother's wishes. You sought to keep me in ignorance of his death until you had crowned the King and established yourselves as rulers of the land. That is not to be. Lord Rivers.'

'I assure you, my lord Duke, that the people wish the King to be crowned.'

'Assuredly the people wish their rightful King to be crowned, but in due course, and not in such a manner which will make the most hated family in the country rulers of it. The King will be crowned, I assure you, but it will not be on the fourth of May as you planned.'

'My lord, the King himself may wish. . . .'

'The King I have no doubt will wish what his uncle tells him to. He is young. Perhaps he is not aware of the scheming ambitions of that self-same uncle. Nay my lord, your schemes have been foiled. There is one thing the people do not want and that is to be ruled by the Woodvilles. They shall have their King and a proper Council to support him.'

'Headed by my lord of Gloucester I doubt not.'

'Headed, my lord, by the man selected by the late King to do so.'

'I came in peace.'

'Then how do you explain the arms in your baggage?'

'A natural precaution.'

'Precaution against those who seek justice for the King and the realm?'

'Ask the King whom he wishes to guide him.'

'The King has been well primed by his mother's relations. All know that. The King is a child. Children cannot rule. Enough of this. I granted you this interview and now it is over.' He called to

the guards. Take Lord Rivers away. He is under arrest. He shall be lodged in Sheriff Hutton until such a time as his case can be judged.'

Protesting, Rivers was hustled away.

Richard with Buckingham beside him and their men behind them rode over in the dawn's early light to Stony Stratford.

The young King, with Lord Richard Grey and his old chamberlain. Sir Thomas Vaughan, was eagerly watching for the arrival of Lord Rivers. He had said that he would come in the early morning when they must all be prepared to leave for London without a moment's delay.

Lord Richard had arrived only the previous day with messages from the Queen to her son. She was longing to see him, she said. He was her King now and she knew that he would understand how important he had become. She had lost his dear father and she needed him to protect her now.

Edward was overcome with emotion. The idea of protecting his beautiful mother, who always seemed so well able to take care of herself, seemed to him a great task and one he was impatient to undertake. Uncle Anthony would tell him what he had to do. His mother would too, and Lord Richard as well. He need not be afraid with so many to help him.

Lord Richard was a little anxious because his uncle had not yet arrived. He had been so insistent that they leave as soon as it was light. He had said he would be arriving from Northampton in the very early morning. But where was he?

Richard said they should all be ready for when Lord Rivers did come it was certain that he would be in a great hurry and would want them to start off without delay.

Lord Richard was in a quandary. The Queen wanted her son in London for the coronation was fixed for a few days ahead. He decided that they would have to leave without Lord Rivers. They had left the inn and the King had mounted his horse with Richard Grey beside him when there was the sound of horses' hoofs in the distance.

'He is here,' cried Lord Richard. 'Thank God. And I am sure that he will wish to leave without delay.'

Orders were being shouted. No one was to leave the town.

Then into their midst rode the King's paternal uncle instead of his maternal one and with him was the Duke of Buckingham.

Gloucester and Buckingham came straight to the King, dismounted and bowed low before him with the utmost respect.

'Where is Lord Rivers?' asked the King rather shrilly.

'I have news for you of my Lord Rivers,' said Richard. 'Let us retire into the inn that we may talk in quiet.'

Bewildered the King dismounted and Lord Richard Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan went with him into the inn. Gloucester and Buckingham followed.

Richard commanded that they be taken to a room and when they were there and the door shut he knelt and kissed Edward's hand.

The greatest calamity which could befall us and this nahon has come about,' he said. 'Your father, my brother, is dead and you, my lord, are now the true and rightful King of England.'

Edward nodded. There were tears in his eyes. He was frightened. His Uncle Gloucester had always had that effect on him. He was wondering where Uncle Anthony was and why he had not come as he promised.

'It is said,' went on Gloucester, 'that your father might be alive today if he had not given way to excesses. There were certain men surrounding him, notably your half-brother the Marquess of Dorset, who encouraged him in these excesses. It is my intent, as your guardian, named to be such by your father, that you shall be saved from these evil influences.'

Lord Richard Grey cried out: 'My lord ... I protest. I and my uncle have never had anything but the King's welfare at heart/

Gloucester waved him aside.

'Certain men,' he said, 'intended to deprive me of the office which my brother in his last words expressed a wish that I should take. They planned to remove me. For this reason I have had no alternative but to arrest Lord Rivers.'

'You have arrested Lord Rivers!' cried the King. 'But he has never done any harm. He is my very good friend . . . my very best friend.'

'My lord, they have kept you in ignorance. There is a plot to destroy me and to govern through you. This plot has been fabricated by the Marquess of Dorset, Lord Rivers and Lord Richard Grey here/

'These are my family . . . my brothers and my uncle.'

Tt is for this reason that they have laid these grandiose schemes. They have always presumed on that relationship. The Woodvilles were nothing until the King married your mother. Now they are trying to take charge of us all.'

'I will not believe this of them. I love them all dearly. They have always been my very good friends.'

'My dear nephew,' said Gloucester, 'for years I have shared your father's confidence. None was closer to him than 1 in matters of state. I have known his mind since he came to the throne. We have worked together; and only a few weeks before his death he spoke to me of this. He told me that he wished me to take the reins of government until you were of an age to do so yourself. He trusted me, Edward, as he trusted no other.'

'He trusted me with Lord Rivers,' said Edward quickly.

'It is true that your uncle was the choice of the Queen but your father was growing anxious about the domination of her family and intended to make changes.'

Edward wanted to shout at this uncle: 'I don't believe it. I love them all. They love me. My half-brother Richard and my uncle Anthony are my best friends. As for you, my lord Gloucester, I don't know you. I don't like you. And I want my uncle Anthony brought back.'

But there was something stem and fierce about Uncle Richard of Gloucester. Edward quailed before him, and was afraid of him. He looked as though he rarely laughed. Uncle Anthony laughed a great deal, although he was a very religious man and sometimes wore a hair shirt under his fine garments. Surely that was a sign of holiness? But Uncle Anthony was fun to be with. So was his half-brother. He wanted to command Uncle Gloucester to send Lord Rivers back to him but he did not know how to do it.