‘He will have a fair trial and then you will understand.’
‘I do not need a trial to tell me that he is innocent of all wrong doing,’ said the King.
‘You are loyal to those you believe to be your friends and that is admirable,’ was all Gloucester said.
He was eager to show the King that he wanted to take nothing from him. All he wanted to do was set him on the throne and help him to govern wisely.
On the fourth of May – the day the Woodvilles had selected for his coronation – Edward the Fifth rode into London.
He was attired in blue velvet which became him well and his fair hair falling to his shoulders made of him a pretty sight. The people cheered him, though they had had their fill of Kings who were minors and knew that good rarely came of them. What England needed was a strong king – a man such as this boy’s father had been.
Beside the King rode the Duke of Gloucester; he was sombrely clad in black, a contrast to the King’s rich garments. And on the other side of the King was Buckingham, clad like Gloucester in black.
Solemnly they rode. The people cheered so wildly that Elizabeth with her children in the Sanctuary of Westminster heard them and she was exultant. It would not be long she promised herself and her family. Soon they would be out of this place and with the King.
The people looked at the Duke of Gloucester, pale, serious and sombre. His brother had relied on him, trusted him.
We have a young King, they thought; but we shall have a wise Protector. Edward in his wisdom has left us well provided for.
News of what was happening outside was brought into the Sanctuary. Elizabeth was desolate. The people accepted Richard; they saw in him a wise ruler, a man who had remained loyal to his brother and had had his confidence. He was serious-minded and had shown that he was a wise administrator by the order he had kept in the North of England. They loved their little King. He was good-looking and youth was always appealing providing there were those who could guide it.
The country unanimously agreed that Richard of Gloucester should be the Lord Protector, and Defender of the Realm.
He was against the Woodvilles but then so was the country. They had watched the avaricious Queen push her family into all the most important houses in the country. Well, that was going to be over now and the Protector had acted promptly and with good sense when he had arrested Rivers and Richard Grey and made Dorset realise that the only place where he would be safe was in Sanctuary.
Dorset was restive. He could not bear being confined in Sanctuary. How could he possibly pursue the kind of life which he had found so necessary to him in such a place? He missed Jane. He laughed slyly to think that she was his mistress. It had happened as soon as the King died – as he had known it would. He had long had his eyes on Jane and he would not have waited for the death of the King. She was the one who insisted on that. Jane was different from other women he had known; Edward had always said she was and he was right. She was not a natural harlot; she was warm-hearted and amorous by nature, born to it, as Edward had said; and yet there was no question of buying her favours. It is not easy to give Jane anything, the King had said wonderingly. Dorset was cynical; at first he had thought she was just exceptionally clever as his own sister was in her way. But there could not be another woman living less like Elizabeth.
He derived great satisfaction from his affair with Jane for a number of reasons. In the first place she was beautiful and desirable; and for another, and this gave him special pleasure, Hastings had wanted her right from the time when the King had first discovered her. Indeed Dorset was not sure whether Hastings had not discovered her first. Edward had come along and jostled poor William out of the way and of course he dared not anger the King over her and Edward would have been furious in the case of Jane though with any other woman he might have been ready to enter into a kind of tournament with his friend.
Not Jane though. There was something special about Jane. Hastings was gnashing his teeth because Dorset had been the one she had gone to on the King’s death.
Dear weak Jane, she had found him irresistible, although she was no fool. She knew his faults. She knew him for the cynical, selfish sybarite he was. She would have no faith in his fidelity; he lacked the kindliness of the late King; that desire in Edward never to hurt people’s feelings if he could help it and always to seek a way of smoothing over unpleasantness was no part of Dorset’s nature. Dorset cared nothing for others; he did not consider them except in their ability to supply his needs. Jane knew this and it was a double triumph therefore that she had come to him. The truth was he was possessed of extraordinary physical attraction. So many women, hating him for what he was, yet found him irresistible; and that Jane, who had basked in the King’s affection and returned it undemandingly for all the years they had been together, should now turn to Dorset was a great triumph – particularly when Hastings was standing by ready to give her the same devotion that she had enjoyed so long from Edward.
To be confined in Sanctuary was unbearable. Yet what would happen if he ventured out? He would immediately be imprisoned for Gloucester would regard him as one of the leaders of the Woodville party.
What a wretched state of affairs to have fallen into so suddenly – and all because one king had died and his brother was determined to rule the country.
‘A plague on Gloucester!’ he cried. But what was the use of words? He had to find a way out of this miserable situation.
He could see only one way of doing it, and that was to escape.
He began to plan. It would be easy enough to slip out of Sanctuary at dark of night, but where would he go then? There were many houses of ill fame in the city and he was known to them. The point was how far could they be trusted? When he was free, son of the Queen, companion of the King, rich, influential, he had been surrounded by friends. It would be different now. Or would it? He was the sort of man people would be afraid to offend for the fortunes of war and politics changed quickly and he was of a vengeful nature.
He knew of one house where the lady in charge was particularly fond of him. He had great confidence in his power to charm. Should he sound her? No. That would be unwise. What if a message went astray? What if instead of the loving arms of the lady he found Gloucester’s men waiting for him? He would find himself in a worse state than he was now.
Nevertheless he must attempt it. He would slip out. He would find his way to the tavern and ask to be hidden there until he could get abroad or away to the North. It should not be difficult. It would be some time before his absence was discovered. His mother would make sure of that.
She listened eagerly when he told her of his plans. She was as weary of this confinement as he was and sure that they could rouse men to follow them. After all was she not the King’s mother? And if Anthony could be freed and Richard with him they could immediately begin to rouse the country against Gloucester.
Yes, he must go. So one dark night Dorset left Sanctuary. He made his way through the narrow streets over the familiar cobbles, wrapped in an all-concealing cloak so that his identity was completely hidden. He knocked; he was let in; he asked for the lady of the house.
She came to him, and when he threw off his cloak she expressed her joy. The old magic had not deserted him. She was as enamoured as ever and clearly flattered that he had come to her.
‘I need to remain here for a night or two ... perhaps a week,’ he told her. ‘Could you hide me?’
Indeed she could and it should be her pleasure.
He kissed her warmly on the lips in his own inimitable way. Old Edward himself could not have done better.