Richard II Interesting Facts

1 Forced to Abdicate

Richard reigned so badly he was forced to abdicate. His promotion of his friends and the revenge he took on his noblemen lead to his downfall. The Archbishop of York announced his abdication by reading out a signed document. In it Richard stated that he had been ‘insufficient, unable and unprofitable, and for my deserts not unworthily to be put down’. It seems he could see where he’d gone wrong in the end….

2 Henry’s Retort

When Henry was crowned King on 13th October 1399, Richard is said to have exclaimed ‘My God! A wonderful land is this, and a fickle; which has exiled, slain, destroyed, or ruined so many kings, rulers and great men, and is ever tainted and toileth with strife and variance and envy’. As recorded by Adam of Usk. It seems that Richard hadn’t seen the error of his ways after all…..

3 Bathing

His popularity was so low by the time he returned from Ireland that vegetables were thrown at him as he rode by. Luckily, and unusually for this period of history, he liked to take baths.

4 Heavy Heart

It is said that Richard never recovered from the death of his first wife, Anne. He had the place where she died, Sheen Palace, demolished.

5 Coronation

Poor Richard was so young when he was crowned, he couldn’t stay awake for the celebration. His uncle, John of Gaunt, had to carry him, fast asleep, to the celebratory feast.

6 Dressing and acting the part

Dressing up was second nature to Richard. His flamboyant dress code included shoes that had very long toes which were fastened to his knees. He wore gold bows and bedecked himself in jewels. The sleeves of his tunic reached to the floor. To match his eye-catching clothing, Richard commissioned a luxurious throne. In keeping with this high status display, anyone meeting the King’s eye was required to drop to their knees immediately. Instead of being addressed as ‘my lord’, which had been good enough for previous monarchs, Richard insisted on ‘your majesty’ and ‘your highness’.

7 Snot the ‘green-sleeves’ king

Perhaps because of his love for fine clothing, Richard is said to have invented the handkerchief. After all it would have been hard to wipe his royal nose on the cuff of his floor-length sleeves.

8 A Sad End

Richard ended his days at Pontefract Castle. He died of starvation, but whether that was self-imposed or forced on him is uncertain. He was taken back to London for public display before being buried at Kings Langley. Fourteen years later he was ceremoniously buried at Westminster Abbey by King Henry V.

9 Royal Pets

The King was given a camel as a sign of regard by the people of London. The Queen was given a pelican. Sad to say, at the end of his life, even Richard’s greyhound deserted him by taking his place at the side of Richard’s successor, Henry Bolingbroke.

10 The first English king to commission his own likeness

Commissioned in 1395, The Wilton Diptych, is the first royal portrait painting. It depicts Richard alongside Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr. Richard is kneeling before the Madonna with John the Baptist at his side.

11 Break on through to the other side

The Tower of London has always been a formidable historic fortress with impenetrable defences, saying that a rabble of peasants managed to successfully break through the Tower in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381