Jean Plaidy - The Sun in Splendour

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 nation 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.’

‘It 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 I 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 stern 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.

‘My lord,’ said Gloucester gently, ‘your father left instructions that I, his brother, who was closer to him than any other, should be Protector of the Realm and of your person. Do you give your consent that your father’s wishes be carried out?’

Edward looked helplessly about him. He wanted to protest. He looked to Lord Richard Grey but his half-brother knew that there was nothing to be done against Gloucester, for it was true that the late King had named him Protector.

‘Y .. yes,’ stammered the King. ‘I agree that my father’s commands shall be carried out.’

‘Then, my lord, we shall return to Northampton,’ said Gloucester.

‘To Northampton! But my mother is waiting for us in London.’

‘I must first of all ascertain that it is safe for you to go there.’

‘But my mother ...’

‘Your mother could not protect you as I shall. We are returning without delay to Northampton and very soon I am sure my friends in London will let me know what is happening there and as soon as it is safe we shall return and you shall be crowned King of England. We shall leave this place in an hour.’

He left the inn and sitting on his horse he addressed the soldiers.

‘Your task is done,’ he said. ‘The King is safely in my hands which is where his father wished him to be. As soon as I have news from London that it is safe for him to go there I shall accompany him to the capital. I trust, my friends, that ere long our King will be attending his coronation. Now there is no need for your good services. Disperse and go back to your homes. You will be told if and when you are needed.’

There was a slight hesitation and murmuring among them then they turned away and did as they were bid.

Gloucester went back into the inn.

‘Where are Lord Richard Grey and Thomas Vaughan?’ he asked.

‘They are with the King, my lord.’

‘As soon as they leave him, arrest them. Let them be sent with Rivers to Sheriff Hutton.’

The Queen with her son, the Marquess of Dorset, was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the young King with his uncle Rivers.

She could not understand the delay for she knew that Anthony was at Stony Stratford. That was the last place from which the messengers had come.

‘If we are to be all prepared for the coronation on the fourth there is little time left to us,’ she declared.

‘We will get it done in time, never fear.’

Elizabeth looked with faint exasperation and a great deal of affection at this handsome eldest son of hers. He was like his father who had been an extremely handsome man. She had certainly managed to attract good-looking men, she thought ruefully. Edward had of course been incomparable and royal at that, but her first husband had been a most outstandingly handsome man and Thomas took after him. Thomas of course was not the most steady of men; he was impulsive and she had to confess a little arrogant and quite vain. His stepfather had spoilt him, taking him about with him. Now Thomas was known as one of the biggest rakes in the kingdom.

At first she had been annoyed when he and Edward had gone off adventuring together and then she had thought it was not such a bad thing. Far better that the King should be with Thomas rather than Hastings. Thomas and Hastings did not like each other and she had heard that they were both contenders for Jane Shore now that the King was dead.

What an attraction that woman appeared to have! The King had been devoted to her until his last days. She must have great physical gifts; but there must have been something more than that to hold Edward to her for so long. Hastings, it seemed, was really in love with her – or so rumour went, but she would have none of him. The same rumour had it that she had succumbed to Dorset now that Edward was dead.

Poor Jane! Although he was her son and she was devoted to him, Elizabeth rather pitied the woman who relied too much on him. He was a rake of a different kind from Edward and Hastings. Edward had been a romantic at heart and Hastings most certainly was. There was nothing of that about Thomas. Thomas knew exactly what he wanted and that was the gratification of his sexual appetites which were as voracious as those of the late King – or almost as voracious – for surely none could compare with Edward in that respect.