It was a tribute to Richard’s thoughtfulness at this unhappy time, that he remembered to pay attention to his remaining children—illegitimate though they were. The beautiful Katherine bade a tearful farewell to her father when she was escorted to her new home in South Wales that summer, where she became the bride of William Herbert. “He is one of my loyal supporters, Katherine, and we shall see you often, I am certain,” Richard told her. He took her chin in his fingers. “And I believe you were not displeased with my choice, am I right?” He laughed when he saw her blush. “Aye, poppet, you will soon forget me and embrace a new life.” He had winced when she clung to him and called him “her dearest Father.” They were only sixteen years apart in age and yet he felt many more years older.

Fourteen-year-old John, already captain of Calais, was knighted by his father during a visit to Scarborough with his lord, Lovell, who told Richard that John was quick-witted and an able soldier.

“He needs to curb his lust, however,” Francis had said with a grin, but Richard was not amused. “Give the boy a chance, my lord,” Francis teased. “Remember his mother? You were about the same age when you seduced Kate.”

“Was I?” Richard mused sadly, not rising to the bait. “It all seems so long ago now.” And in truth he did not seem like the same man who had loved so passionately and recklessly in his youth. He had sighed deeply and moved on to other issues. “I am glad you are here, Francis. I may have need of you before long. Those perfidious Scots are rattling their claymores again.”

During those long, hot days of summer Richard tried to fill his days with his royal duties, which included outfitting the fleet for a possible invasion from Scotland. He threw himself into preparations including adding new artillery to his inventory. Also fearing another attempt by Tudor to invade, Richard ordered cannons be mounted on the walls of the Tower of London to fend off a southern attack. Breton pirates were causing trouble in the Channel again, taking advantage of a new regime in England, and Richard sent a flotilla to worry them off the Breton coast. It seemed as though he was beset on all sides by conflict, not the least of which battled in his own mind. He knew he did not have Edward’s way with people, but the more he tried to please his subjects, the more they viewed him with suspicion. Even his personal intervention in a woman of York’s law suit against an unscrupulous relative could not erase the words “usurper” and “murderer” from tainting the twelve months of his reign and burrowing into his unhappy heart.