Seizing the moment, Buckingham went down on one knee to his cousin. “My Liege,” he cried, sweeping off his hat. A shocked silence followed, and Richard saw the accusation clearly in some of the members’ looks: Is he stealing the crown?

Horrified, Richard leaped up and pulled Buckingham to his feet. “You go too far, my lord Buckingham,” he countered. “We must first try and find more proof of this story. Perhaps my lord bishop misremembered…”

“…but he swore on your holy book of hours that it was true,” Jack Howard broke in, and Stillington nodded vehemently. “I witnessed it, my lords. I do not believe the bishop is lying.”

Buckingham murmured. “Leave this to me, Richard.” He turned to the company. “Let us allow the lord protector to go on his way while we have a conference to determine a course of action. Do you agree?”

“Agreed,” they chorused.

Grateful, Richard made his way to the door of the Star Chamber, where he turned and bowed. “May God help you make an honest decision, my lords. I am putting my trust in you. Now forgive me, it is my duty to inform the king…I mean Edward…that there will be no coronation.”

Instead of taking the royal barge straight to the Tower, Richard made a stop to prepare his mind for revealing the brutal truth and unfair consequences of the princes’ father’s indiscretion those many years ago. Whenever Richard felt helpless or needed to clear his head to solve a problem, he found solace in exercise. Over the years that his spine had begun to twist and push, he had dedicated a good portion of his daily training routine to strengthening his arms and shoulders to ensure he was fully capable of swinging his favorite weapon, the war hammer, to maximum effect. Determined to overcome his handicap, he never missed a day of vigorous training.

Richard had a personal combat instructor, another of the very few who knew of Richard’s physical condition, and Walter Woodman traveled with Richard’s household along with a personal armorer, an Italian master named Signore Vicente. A knight’s harness must fit its wearer’s body exactly or chafing would cause extreme discomfort during combat, and thus Vicente was now intimately familiar with his master’s body as was Richard’s tailor.