The Reluctant Queen

I was super into Jean Plaidy's books about 15 years ago--I started visiting a library I didn't frequent as a kid, and they had all kinds of great books the two libraries I normally went to did not, like Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Masons and Jean Plaidy. I read most of her books about the early rulers of England: I remember particularly enjoying books about Eleanor of Aquitaine. This one is about Queen Anne, Richard III's wife. Their story is one of true love (at least in my opinion). Richard grew up at Middleham, which was one of Anne's wealthy father's castles. He learned to be a knight and a gentleman and the two became friends while they were still young. Richard went off to help his older brother, Edward, win the crown from Henry VI, but Anne thought of him fondly. Her older sister, Isabel, married Richard's other brother George. Anne was betrothed to Henry's son Edward when her father left the Yorks to back the Lancasters, but he was killed and the Yorks prevailed. Richard and Anne wanted to marry, but George, as Anne's legal guardian, wouldn't allow it, wanting to keep his greedy hands on the entire Warwick fortune. He drugged Anne and hid her in a cookshop in London. No one would believe she was Lady Anne Neville, until she was able to get word to Richard, who showed up one night demanding Anne's release or he'd burn the whole thing down (he wasn't playing, even Richard's enemies described him as a vicious fighter). So romantic! He truly was a white knight rescuing his lady love. They were married, and had a son named Edward. Anne's health was never terribly good, and their son was frail as well. When Edward IV died, his son was named Edward V with Richard to serve as Protector of the Realm until Edward reached his majority. Queen Elizabeth, Edward IV's widow, had other ideas and tried to wrest the Protectorship about from Richard. Richard prevailed, but then discovered that his brother and Elizabeth were not actually legally married: Edward was married to another woman who was still alive when he married Elizabeth, making their offspring bastards, which means Richard was the next legitimate heir to the throne. He is proclaimed King and Anne Queen. The book was all told from Anne's point of view, so it was very sympathetic to Richard, of course, which I was totally okay with. Plaidy portrayed Richard as reluctant to take the throne, but knowing he had to for the good of the realm. It's too bad he was killed at Bosworth: had he survived we never would have had Henry VIII. It's interesting to contemplate.