Cultural depictions of Richard III of England facts for kids

This painting shows King Richard III. It was copied from an older painting.

King Richard III of England has appeared in many stories, plays, and movies over time. For a long time, especially during the Tudor period (when the Tudors ruled England), he was shown as a bad guy. The most famous example is William Shakespeare's play Richard III.

However, in the 1900s, some people started to think differently about Richard III. They wanted to show him in a more positive way. This group is sometimes called the "Ricardians". Even with these new ideas, the image of Richard III as a hunchbacked villain is still very common in popular culture.

Richard III in Books

Early Stories: The Tudor Period

The cover of a very old play from 1594 about Richard III.

The most famous story about Richard III is Richard III by William Shakespeare. It was likely written around 1591, about 100 years after the King died. This play was the last part of a series of plays about the Wars of the Roses. Richard also shows up in two earlier plays by Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 2 and Henry VI, Part 3.

Shakespeare shows Richard as a mean and deformed person. He believes Richard is bitter about his body and uses his ambition to get what he wants. In Henry VI Part 3, Richard describes himself as having a "shrunk" arm and a "mountain" on his back.

Before Shakespeare, two other plays about Richard III were written. Richardus Tertius (1579) was a Latin play by Thomas Legge. Another play, The True Tragedy of Richard III (around 1590), might have influenced Shakespeare. These plays didn't focus much on Richard's looks. But True Tragedy did say he was "ill shaped, crooked backed, lame armed." Both plays showed him as a man who used others to gain power.

Modern Stories: 1900s and 2000s

An old painting from 1860 showing Richard III (left) taking Richard, Duke of York from his mother.

In the 1900s, more books started to show Richard III in a different light.

• Dickon (1929) by Marjorie Bowen showed Richard in a kind way.
• Josephine Tey's famous book The Daughter of Time (1951) is a detective story. A police detective investigates the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. He concludes that Richard III was innocent of their murder. He thinks Henry VII was more likely the culprit.
• We Speak No Treason (1971) by Rosemary Hawley Jarman tells Richard's story from the viewpoint of three of his loyal courtiers.
• Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel The Sunne in Splendour (1982) tells a detailed story of the Wars of the Roses. It also shows Richard in a more understanding way.
• The Jonny Quest comic (1987) had an issue where Jonny and Hadji travel back in time. They find that Richard III is not deformed and is loved by his people. The comic suggests that history is often written by the winners.
• In the 2000s, more books continued to explore Richard III. Reay Tannahill's The Seventh Son (2001) gave a fair but not overly romantic view of him.
• Sandra Worth wrote "The Rose of York" trilogy (2003-2007).
• Philippa Gregory's novel The White Queen (2009) suggests that Henry Tudor's mother, Margaret Beaufort, might have been involved in the princes' disappearance. This was to make Richard look bad.

Richard III in Movies and TV Shows

Many movies and TV shows have shown Richard III, often based on Shakespeare's play.

• The 1955 film Richard III was directed by and starred Sir Laurence Olivier.
• The 1995 film Richard III starred Sir Ian McKellen. It was set in a fictional 1930s England.
• Looking for Richard (1996) is a documentary by Al Pacino. He explores the character and the play.
• The 1939 film Tower of London and its 1962 remake showed Richard as a complete villain.
• On TV, Paul Daneman played Richard in the 1960 BBC series An Age of Kings.
• Ron Cook played him in the 1983 BBC Shakespeare production.
• Aneurin Barnard played Richard in the 2013 TV series The White Queen. This show was based on Philippa Gregory's novels.
• Benedict Cumberbatch played Richard in The Hollow Crown (2016), another adaptation of Shakespeare's plays.
• In the children's TV show Horrible Histories, Richard III sings a song trying to clear his name.

Actors Who Played Richard III in Films

• Frederick Warde in Richard III (1912)
• Basil Rathbone in Tower of London (1939)
• Laurence Olivier in Richard III (1955)
• Vincent Price in Tower of London (1962)
• Ian McKellen in Richard III (1995)
• Al Pacino in Looking for Richard (1996)

Actors Who Played Richard III on Television

• Paul Daneman in An Age of Kings (1960)
• Ian Holm in War of the Roses (1965)
• Ron Cook in the BBC Shakespeare series (1983)
• Benedict Cumberbatch in The Hollow Crown (2016)
• Jim Howick in Horrible Histories (2009 TV series)
• Aneurin Barnard in The White Queen (2013)

Other Appearances

The King by Alexander de Cadenet, a portrait based on an X-ray of Richard III's skull.

• In 2016, artist Alexander de Cadenet created a skull-portrait of Richard III. It was based on X-ray scans of the king's actual skull.
• The band Supergrass has a song called "Richard III".
• Stephen Beckett played Richard III in a Doctor Who audio drama called The Kingmaker.
• Some people believe the nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty was inspired by Richard III. This theory suggests Humpty Dumpty represents Richard III, who was shown as humpbacked and fell from power at the Battle of Bosworth Field. However, there's no direct proof linking the rhyme to the king.
• In the musical Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires), Richard III appears as a vampire at a ball.

Images for kids

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  A display of books about Richard III.