Richard III (1452-85), last king of the House of York and last Plantagenet king of England, was born in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, on 2 October 1452, the son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (who claimed descent from Edward III through his mother, Anne Mortimer) and Cecily Neville. He became heir to the dukedom when his elder brother, Edward IV, inherited the throne in 1461. In 1470 he regained his father’s title when Edward IV was briefly deposed by a Lancastrian resurgence under Henry VI. After defeating the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury in May 1471, Edward IV resumed the throne and had Henry VI murdered shortly afterwards; Richard thus became Lord Protector for his young nephews Edward V (ruled 1483) and Richard II (ruled 1377-99). However, within two months both boys had been declared illegitimate by an Act of Parliament controlled by their uncle’s supporters and were probably murdered in the Tower of London on Richards’s orders; they were never seen again after entering the Tower in early July 1483. On 22 June 1483 Richard proclaimed himself King Richard III.
As king he faced rebellions in Wales and northern England but crushed them quickly with much bloodshed. His reputation rests chiefly on Shakespeare’s portrayal of him as a hunchbacked usurper who killed his nephews (‘the princes in the Tower’). Modern historians have revised this view: there is no evidence that he was physically deformed or that he ordered their murder; it is more likely that they died at the hands of others on his behalf. Nevertheless he remains one of England’s most controversial kings.