AS a member of The Society of Friends of King Richard III, I was pleased to learn that experts have finally proved that England’s last Plantagenet ruler was not the “weak” monarch with a hunchback and withered arm as vilely perpetuated by Tudor propagandists and Shakespeare.
He was, in fact, every bit the noble “warrior king”, despite his spine being twisted by scoliosis. As an ardent Yorkist, I dream of what things would have been like if Richard III had won the Battle of Bosworth, and Henry Tudor had been slain in battle or executed.
One thing is certain: no murderous Henry VIII, no fanatical Elizabeth I, no vast Armada, no damaging war with Spain. But most importantly, no English Reformation and no split from the Catholic Church.
Almost certainly, too, the amazing Cistercian communities such as Rievaulx and Fountains would have survived and their great spiritual legacy would still be manifest today.
We might still be a Roman Catholic nation, with a United Ireland as our greatest ally.
Aled Jones, Bridlington.
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