Letters: Writing the history on Richard III

Re “Race to unearth a royal mystery,” Column One, Sept. 5

At last, we may have some truth about Richard III, who has been maligned for centuries. Let’s remember that history is written by the victors — in this case, the Tudors — after Henry VII, whose claim was very tenuous, gained the throne.

No one really knows what happened to the little princes in the tower. We do know that their succession to the throne was not valid when it was discovered that Edward IV’s wife, Elizabeth Woodville, had been betrothed before marrying Edward, and therefore their marriage and thus their children were not legitimate.

There was no talk in his lifetime of Richard being a hunchback; Kevin Spacey’s performance notwithstanding. Shakespeare wrote his play more than 100 years after Richard’s death — using the Tudors’ history.

Patricia L. Moore

Los Angeles

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