‘Treason!’ he shouted after the retreating Stanleys who were making their way to the Tudor lines.

He would find Henry Tudor. He should be his special prey. He would take him in single combat. It was their fate which was being decided. Plantagenet against Tudor. If Richard did not succeed it would not only be the end of a King, it would be the end of a line. Glorious Plantagenet supreme for generations would give way to the new House of Tudor – begotten by bastards ... with none but the flimsiest claim to the throne. And the rule of the proud Plantagenets who had governed the land since the glorious days of Henry the Second would be over.

It must not be. It was for him to save it.

‘God help me,’ he cried. ‘I must find Henry Tudor. The fight is between us two.’

In spite of his small stature he was an impressive figure as he rode forward, the sun glinting on his golden crown, his white horse galloping forward.

His friends called to him but he did not heed them.

‘I shall find Henry Tudor,’ he shouted.

With his small band of followers he rode right into the midst of the enemy’s cavalry.

Now he had seen it – the Welsh banner held aloft by William Brandon, Henry Tudor’s standard-bearer. There was the Tudor. He was well protected, surrounded by his men, by no means in the thick of the fight. Trust the Tudor for that.

‘I have come to kill you, Tudor,’ he muttered. ‘It has to be one of us.’

It was folly he knew. There were too many of them but he was there. He had glimpsed Henry Tudor ... He struck at William Brandon, and the man went down.

He saw Ratcliffe who was trying to protect him. His horse had collapsed under him but he was immediately on his feet.

‘My lord ... my lord ...’ It was Ratcliffe again. But Richard did not hear. He had seen Henry Tudor. He had come close enough to strike down his standard-bearer. He was going to take Henry Tudor.

He went forward wielding his battle-axe.

‘Treason!’ he cried. ‘Come, Henry Tudor ... Come out and fight.’

His men were falling about him, Ratcliffe was down now, but Richard fought on valiantly, the crown on his head. He was determined to storm his way through to the Tudor. If he were going to die he would take him with him.

They were attacking him now. The blows were coming fast. Then he was sinking into darkness. He fell to the ground and his crown rolled from his head.

It was the end. The battle was over. It was victory for Henry Tudor. Of Richard’s loyal friends Norfolk, Ratcliffe and Brackenbury were slain. Catesby was captured and hanged; Lovell escaped to live on into the new reign.

It was Lord Stanley – to whose treachery Henry Tudor owed his victory – who found the golden crown in a hedge and placed it on Henry Tudor’s head.

So ended the battle of Bosworth, the last in the Wars of the Roses. So ended the rule of the Plantagenets. A new reigning family had come to England with the Tudors.

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