Richard III of England

Richard III (October 2, 1452 – August 22, 1485) is King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, at the age of thirty-two, in the Battle of Bosworth Field.

He is the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty.

His defeat at Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marks the end of the Middle Ages in England.

He is the subject of the fictional historical play Richard III by William Shakespeare.

When his brother King Edward IV dies in April 1483, Richard is named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's son and successor, the twelve-year-old Edward V. As the young king travels to London from Ludlow, Richard meets and escorts him to lodgings in the Tower of London, where Edward V's own brother Richard of Shrewsbury joins him shortly afterwards.

Arrangements are made for Edward's coronation on 22 June 1483; but, before the young king can be crowned, his father's marriage to his mother Elizabeth Woodville is declared invalid, making their children illegitimate and ineligible for the throne.

On June 25, an assembly of Lords and commoners endorses the claims.

The following day, Richard III begins his reign, and he is crowned on July 6, 1483.

The young princes are not seen in public after August, and accusations circulate that the boys had been murdered on Richard's orders, giving rise to the legend of the Princes in the Tower.

Of the two major rebellions against Richard, the first, in October 1483, is led by staunch allies of Edward IVand Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham; but the revolt collapses.

In August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, lead a second rebellion against Richard.

Henry Tudor lands in southern Wales with a small contingent of French troops and marches through his birthplace, Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers.

Henry's force engages Richard's army and defeats it at the Battle of Bosworth Field in Leicestershire.

Richard is struck down in the conflict, making him the last English king to die in battle on home soil and the first since Harold II was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

After the battle Richard's corpse is taken to Leicester and buried without pomp.

His original tomb is believed to have been destroyed during the Reformation, and his remains were lost for more than five centuries.

In 2012, an archaeological excavation was conducted on a city council car park on the site once occupied by Greyfriars Priory Church.

The University of Leicester identified the skeleton found in the excavation as that of Richard III as a result of radiocarbon dating, comparison with contemporary reports of his appearance, and comparison of his mitochondrial DNA with that of two matrilineal descendants of Richard III's eldest sister, Anne of York.

Richard's remains were reburied in Leicester Cathedral on 26 March 2015.

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