MARGARET Watson admits there are those who might think her "a bit dotty" for hosting a birthday party, complete with professionally iced cake, for an alleged murderer who died over five centuries ago.

But within minutes of meeting her, that myth is dispelled to reveal a sharp brain and a passionate enthusiasm for her subject, King Richard III.

Miss Watson, a retired teacher who lives in Barnard Castle - the town where Richard was Lord c1477-85 - had always been intrigued by the Yorkist king, who had one of the shortest reigns in history, lasting only two years and two months.

Her fascination with Richard - whose mother was Cicely Neville, the so-called Rose of Raby - was fuelled in the mid-Eighties when her friend, the late Ted Seaton, found the Middleham Jewel while out with his metal detector.

"That really set me off," said Miss Watson. "I was walking past Ted's shop in Galgate when he dragged me in and locked the door behind him.

"He told me to close my eyes and put out my hand and there I was, holding a piece of history," she added. "I must have been one of the first outside the family to hold the Middleham Jewel."

The pendant, gold and set with a sapphire, dates from the time of Richard's reign and was discovered near Middleham, his favourite castle, in 1985 and later sold for £1.4m.

"It was found on the site of an old track that led to Jervaulx Abbey," said Miss Watson. "Although there is no guarantee that it belonged to Richard, its very quality suggests that it was made for someone important."

Her experience with the Middleham Jewel led to her joining the Richard III Society that same year, although she did not have a great deal of knowledge about the king at that time.

"I knew no more than anyone else, having heard mainly about the evil side of him and that he was supposed to be a hunchback," she said. "But he was one of the most maligned rulers; a victim of Tudor propaganda, accused of seizing the throne, poisoning his queen and murdering his two young nephews, the Princes in the Tower."

Shakespeare described him as "a poisonous hunch-backed toad with a withered arm", yet Sir Winston Churchill disagreed. In his History of the English Speaking Peoples, he wrote that "No one in his (Richard's) lifetime seems to have remarked on these deformities, but they are now very familiar to us through Shakespeare's play."

Miss Watson told of two portraits of the king which show malformations, one in the collection held by the Society of Antiquaries and the other in the royal collection at Windsor.

"In each painting, under infra-red examination, it can be seen that the line of the shoulder and arm has been over-painted at a later date, giving the impression of deformity," she said.

The image of Richard believed to be the most authentic is the Paston portrait, also held by the Society of Antiquaries. Once owned by the Paston family of Norfolk, there is no suggestion of a hunchback or withered arm. The Pastons were one of the leading gentry families in Norfolk, their relations with the movers and shakers of the time, including the Crown, forming the stuff of national and regional politics. Richard and his brother, George, had lodged in the Pastons' London house. The Paston letters, which span the reigns of four monarchs including Richard III, are acknowledged as a major source of information for students of fifteenth century history.

"He is believed to have murdered his young nephews - Edward Prince of Wales and Richard Duke of York," said Miss Watson. "Yet their mother, Edward IV's queen, who did not like Richard and would not have missed a chance to get rid of him, never once claimed they had gone missing."

On a day out in York in 1988 she discovered a group called the Friends of King Richard, which she promptly joined.

"It was formed by Dorothy Mitchell, a real dynamo," she said. "I go down at least once a month and we have all sorts of activities and social events."

She told how York Minster greatly benefited from Richard, which led the group to present two chalices and a stained glass window panel in his memory.

This was installed six years ago. Represented is Bosworth Field, where Richard fell, a broken spear and his boar emblem. It carries the words Richard, Lord of the North and his motto Loyaltie Me Lie (Loyalty Binds Me).

Miss Watson raised funds for the window by reproducing the Paston portrait for sale, with permission, making £50 profit. "I like to think of the R in the window as mine!" she said.

York City records clearly show that Richard proved to be a just and capable administrator who was loved and respected throughout the North, where he ruled for 12 years when Duke of Gloucester.

Each year on the nearest weekend to the anniversary of his coronation, the Friends of King Richard group holds some kind of celebration, often visiting the places to which Richard was connected. This year they spent some time in Durham before staying overnight in Barnard Castle guest houses. They enjoyed a buffet lunch prepared by Miss Watson before visiting Raby Castle.

One year on his birth date, October 2, Miss Watson had a fruit cake professionally decorated by Peat's in Barnard Castle for a party in Richard's honour, and still has the York rose, fashioned in white icing.

A couple of years ago, incensed at the planting of red roses at Amen Corner, adjacent to the town's parish church, she launched and won a campaign to change them to white.

"Richard was a great benefactor of the church, giving 40 marks for its embellishment," said Miss Watson. "Extensive alterations were carried out during 1477-85 which are attributed to him."

The last of the Plantagenet kings, Richard III was also the last English king to die on the battlefield, falling at Bosworth in the summer of 1485. Yet his memory lingers on.

Each year on the anniversary of his death the following notice appears in the In Memoriam column in The Times, placed by the Society which bears his name: PLANTAGENET - Richard. Remember before God, Richard III, King of England, and those who fell at Bosworth Field, having kept faith, August 22, 1485. Loyaltie Me Lie.