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Top 10 Amazing Facts about King Richard III

Kin Richard III from

Richard III, commonly known as Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester (1461 83), was the last Plantagenet and Yorkist monarch of England (born October 2, 1452, Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England—died August 22, 1485, near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire). In 1483, he stole his nephew Edward V’s crown and was defeated by Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was portrayed as the worst and most terrible of rulers for about 500 years after his death. 

Here are 10 surprising facts about him:

1. He Lost His Father

Although the Duke of York was a strong figure and one of England’s most powerful men, no one is truly secure when it comes to the game of thrones. The Duke’s revolt was put down at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. The Duke of York and his second son, Edmund, were both killed in the battle. For fear of their life, Richard’s mother took him and his brother George to the Netherlands when the Yorkist cause fell apart.

The Wars of the Roses appeared to be coming to a conclusion, but the House of York was far from defeated. Richard would soon return to his native land.

2. He suffered from a bone ailment

Richard III suffered from a crippling bone disorder, scoliosis. This resulted in him having a curved spine. However, the condition is unlikely to have manifested in any significant physical deformity. Depictions of him as a hunched cripple with a
withered hands were likely invented by The Tudors to discredit his reign.

3. He Prepared To Become A Warrior

Richard III was the Duke of York’s eleventh child. He was now the King of England’s second brother. That’s a significant distinction. During the Wars of the Roses, Edward sent young Richard to live with his most trusted ally, Richard Neville, the infamous Kingmaker who assisted many individuals in claiming England’s throne. The Kingmaker was nearly as vicious as Edward, and he was tasked by the King with making Richard a knight.

For a variety of reasons, Richard’s stay with the Kingmaker influenced the man he became.

4. He imprisoned his nephews in the Tower of London

Richard’s ascension to the throne came at the expense of his nephews Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. After the death of Edward IV, Richard III, then The Duke of Gloucester, took custody of his nephews
under the guise of protecting them. After postponing Edward V’s coronation he declared that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was illegitimate. Consequently, Richard was declared the only legitimate heir to Edward IV.

5. He made English the official court language

Prior to the ascension of Richard III, French and Latin were used in official arbitration. Richard made English the official language at court, marking a significant shift in the conduction of court affairs.

6. Richard III was a champion of justice

He established a court for poor people. The Court of Requests, a formal tribunal constituted by the king in 1484, was created to adjudicate cases from poor litigants. This development ensured justice for people that could be attorneys. He also
carried out extensive legal reforms for the benefit of common citizens. Firstly, he strengthened the bail system, preventing the indefinite detention of the accused. Also, he translated law from Latin to English, giving commoners, most of whom could not read English, the ability to decipher legislation.

7. He liberalized the publication and sale of books

Unlike previous kings, he did not censor new books. Publication of literary works, therefore, flourished under his reign. The literature published under Richard III’s reign enhanced access to literature and art among the general public.

8. His wife had married someone else before him 

Anne Neville by William Henry Mote from

Many in England expected Richard and Anne Neville would marry soon, but when allegiances shifted, previous arrangements were abandoned. Richard Neville married his daughter to Anjou’s son, Edward of Westminster, in order to prove his loyalty to Margaret of Anjou. Richard’s surrogate father had turned on him, and he’d also lost his lady love in the process. Even still, the news for Richard and the Yorks kept growing worse.

It was bad enough that the Kingmaker had switched sides—now the Yorks learnt that one of their own had also turned against them.

9. He suffered a deformity

Richard III spent his adolescent years learning the skills of battle (and probably sneaking glances at Anne Neville whenever he got the chance). During this time, he also got scoliosis, though no one knows how it happened. Richard’s curved spine never held him back, but it provided a grist for writers like William Shakespeare to turn him into a disfigured monster in their writings.

10. Richard III’s skeleton was discovered under a parking lot in Leicester

Following his death, Richard III was secretly buried in a church that was formerly located at Greyfriars in Leicester, England. An archaeological team from the University of Leicester uncovered the king’s secret burial site, confirming their findings in February of 2013. The King’s remains were then reinterred in Leicester Cathedral in March of 2015.

While Richard III is frequently depicted as a cold-blooded tyrant, he was also proved to be a passionate supporter of literature, music, architecture, and education, particularly by funding the chapel at King’s College, Cambridge University, and other collegiate churches.