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Purple History's avatar

In fairness to Shakespeare, the way Richard became King and the mystery surrounding the fate of his nephews had already paved the way of his image as a villain.

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History Explored's avatar

Thanks for the message Charlotte. I live in Sydney, Australia but I grew up in the north of England - and I never managed to get a visit in to Leicester, though I would love to get there. Next time I’m in UK I’ll have it on my itinerary. Best regards David M

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Charlotte B's avatar

Thank you for your reply David. I’m originally from Yorkshire so also a Northerner. How amazing to live in Sydney now. The visitors centre itself is only small but interesting for those who like History. You can see the place where he was found (now part of the centre; a hole in the ground). However, the rest of Leicester may not be too interesting 😂

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Charlotte B's avatar

New follower here 😊 I can’t say I had much interest in King Richard until he was discovered in the car park whilst I was at university in Leicester. This of course peaked my interest. Have you had the opportunity to visit the King Richard III Visitor Centre or Leicester Cathedral ? I am now a teacher (in Leicester) and he is on our Y5 curriculum (both his history and also how his remains were discovered) and we take the children there to visit. It’s an interesting visit..it has a section on Shakespeare’s depiction of him and how fair/ unfair it was. But also has interesting information about how he was described, his health, the ‘rumours’ and so forth.

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History Explored's avatar

Yes I read somewhere that all the internecine conflicts of that era served as a sort of template

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Purple History's avatar

Yepp, but specifically in the Richard-Tyrion comparison, it was that both of them were deformed, Tyrion was a dwarf and Richard had his back, and despite both being decent person( according to GRR), people always saw the worst in them due to their deformation.

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History Explored's avatar

I didn’t know that, very interesting. Thanks for letting me know!

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History Explored's avatar

I'm a Yorkist! I grew up in York (live in Sydney now) where where the prevailing narrative was that Richard was a good guy. So it's a big boo to Shakespeare from me :)

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Purple History's avatar

I see😁I heard plenty of people holding this view actually. G.R.R Martin, the author of the Song of Ice and Fire, said that the character of Tyrion Lannister was inspired by Richard III also.

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TheScribesQuill's avatar

"Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes."

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