Shakespeare's Kings (104 page)

Richard
of
Gloucester,
his
nephew
Edward
V
and
their
entourage reached
London
on
4
May
to
find
that
the
news
of
the
coup
had
arrived before
them.
The
Queen,
with
her
nine-year-old
son
the
Duke
of York
and
her
five
daughters,
had
already
taken
sanctuary
in
the
Abbot's Lodgings
at
Westminster,
bringing
with
her
a
vast
quantity
of
furniture and
all
her
possessions
that
could
somehow
be
accommodated.
But
the ordinary
citizens
too
were
growing
nervous.
The
Duke's
men
seemed to
be
everywhere
—
standing
in
threatening
groups
at
key
points
in
the city,
roaming
the
streets,
even
patrolling
the
river
in
boats.
And
rumours, as
always
at
such
moments,
were
spreading
fast:
that
Richard
was planning
to
seize
the
throne,
and
that
he
was
acting
not
only
against the
Woodvilles
but
against
the
young
King
himself.

The
Londoners
were
reassured,
first
by
the
universally
respected Hastings
who
told
them,
in
absolute
good
faith,
that
they
had
nothing to
fear,
and
then,
a
few
days
later,
by
Richard
himself
in
the
King's ceremonial
procession
to
St
Paul's
Cathedral.
Riding
beside
the
beautiful,
fair-headed
youth,
he
would
repeatedly
bow
low
to
the
crowds lining
the
streets,
calling
to
them
as
he
did
so:
'Behold
your
Prince
and Sovereign
Lord!'
Impressed
by
the
obvious
pride
that
he
showed
in
his nephew,
they
once
more
took
him
to
their
hearts.
At
the
next
meeting of
the
now
seriously
depleted
Council,
the
Duke
of
Gloucester
was confirmed
as
Protector
of
the
Realm
and
of
the
King.
Meanwhile
a new
date,
22
June,
was
fixed
for
the
long-awaited
coronation.

It
could
be
claimed,
with
all
the
wisdom
of
hindsight,
that
Richard gave
the
first
sign
of
his
true
intentions
when,
some
ten
days
after
his arrival
in
the
capital,
he
removed
the
young
King
from
the
palace
of the
Bishop
of
London
adjoining
St
Paul's
and
transferred
him
to
the Tower.
As
we
have
seen
often
enough
in
this
history,
the
Tower
was not,
in
the
fifteenth
century,
the
grim
prison
of
popular
imagination;
it too
was
a
palace,
boasting
a
fine
banqueting
hall
and
several
sumptuously furnished
apartments
in
which
most
of
the
Plantagenet
kings
had
lodged at
one
time
or
another.
But
it
also
contained
other,
less
desirable accommodation;
and
its
formidable
walls
effectively
cut
it
off
from
the outside
world.
With
Edward
safely
installed,
Richard's
next
concern was
to
bring
his
younger
brother
to
join
him.
The
little
Duke
of
York was,
after
all,
technically
heir
to
the
throne:
it
would
be
poindess
to dispose
of
one
of
the
two
Princes
without
the
other.
The
difficulty
was their
mother.
The
Queen
and
her
family
were
still
in
sanctuary
at Westminster,
and
she
would
not
let
him
out
of
her
sight.
It
was
explained to
her
that
the
King
was
lonely
without
his
brother;
that
he
was
calling for
him
again
and
again;
that
it
was
doing
the
boy
no
good
to
be virtually
incarcerated
in
the
Abbey
in
the
exclusive
company
of
'old and
ancient
persons';
and
that
sanctuaries
were
designed
for
criminals rather
than
for
princes
of
the
blood.
Elizabeth
refused
to
listen.
It
was only
when
the
Archbishop
of
Canterbury,
the
seventy-nine-year-old Cardinal
Bourchier,
went
personally
to
see
her,
pointed
out
that
her son
would
anyway
have
to
be
released
to
attend
his
brother's
coronation and
finally
suggested
that,
if
she
maintained
her
attitude,
he
might
have to
reconsider
the
question
of
her
own
sanctuary,
that
she
yielded
at
last.

With
the
two
boys
now
together
in
the
Tower,
Richard's
position
was immeasurably
strengthened;
but
there
remained
one
further
potential obstacle
to
the
realization
of
his
plans.
The
Lord
Chamberlain,
Lord Hastings,
had
no
particular
love
for
the
Woodvilles,
but
as
Edward
IV's closest
friend
he
would
certainly
have
been
prepared
to
ally
himself with
them
or
anyone
else
on
behalf
of
the
young
King.
Another
friend, Lord
Stanley,
seems
to
have
warned
him
of
possible
danger,
but
Hastings remained
unconcerned;
he
and
Richard,
he
claimed,
had
always
been on
excellent
terms.
Besides,
he
was
constantly
kept
informed
by
one of
his
most
trusted
retainers
-
a
certain
William
Catesby,
who
enjoyed Richard's
confidence
-
of
all
the
Duke's
regular
meetings
with
his associates,
and
was
certain
that
nothing
could
be
plotted
against
him without
his
knowledge.
Here,
unfortunately,
he
deceived
himself: Catesby
was
in
fact
a
double
agent,
who
was
being
paid
good
money by
Richard
to
keep
his
master
in
ignorance
until
the
plot
was
sprung.