THE LAST WHITE ROSE - EPISODE TEN: "FROM CORONATION TO CONSPIRACY"

One page synopsis of Episode Ten of "The Last White Rose": "From Coronation to Conspiracy" While pages assist King Richard with his armor, Merlin reveals what's in the cards. The first is the King and Queen of Diamonds which are the Spider King and Margaret of Anjou, both now dead; next is the King and Queen of Clubs in King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville; followed by the King and Queen of Hearts in the persons of King Richard III and Queen Anne. He then reveals the King and Queen of Spades: Henry Tudor and Edward's daughter Elizabeth. Merlin warns they are the bridge 'tween medieval times and reformation as he takes Richard back to his Coronation day in Westminster with all the glorious pomp and ceremony of the event as Richard receives the Crown and Scepter and Anne the Coronet. The Sun In Splendor shines brightly on July 6, 1483. All are swept up in the euphoria while Elizabeth stews in sanctuary in discussion with her older brother Bishop Lionel. He suggests she encourage Henry of Tudor to begin amassing troops in France to overwhelm Richard because Richmond has his eyes on her blossoming daughter Elizabeth. The Queen nods her approval and shows her annoyance for the music playing in the Cathedral as the Coronation Mass continues. After the Coronation, Richard and Anne travel by entourage to Warwick where Anne relives her childhood memories good and bad. There Richard receives in audience a Padre Torquemada who has just been assigned by Pope Sixtus IV to the Holy Office of the Inquisition in order to protect the Faith in Spain. Torquemada cautions that England is not immune to the devil's ways. He also recommends a young explorer who is looking for funding to mount an expedition, one Christopheri Colombus. Unfortunately, thanks to being bled of wealth from the Trader's Truce, England has not the funds. The meeting is interrupted by urgent news from London. The young princes are missing. Richard and Anne return with haste to Westminster and, as his men search every inch of the Tower and grounds, he interrogates a flushed Sir Robert Brackenbury. He informs Richard that Henry Stafford, as new Constable of the Tower, dismissed Brackenbury for a day. All he knows is that when he returned the princes were gone and Buckingham had vanished. While he speaks the viewer sees what really occurred: Buckingham and four men come in, plant two young bodies beneath the stairs. They begin to plaster over the steps while two others cart off two more wriggling bags, no doubt the young princes and whisk them away as the plasterers finish up. Buckingham pays them off and departs. The viewer will later discover that they were spirited away toward Wales to be Bishop Morton's playthings, but on the road the jaw rot eats at young Edward who convulses and is left to die. Buckingham cannot tarry long. Brackenbury and Richard realize too late they've been lied to and that Buckingham must be made to pay for such treachery. Richard suspects Morton but must prove it. He dispatches Sir James Tyrell to talk with Stafford with strict instructions to let Buckingham think Richard has no idea the Duke was involved. At Pontrefact Castle, Sir James returns to report to Richard and Anne that Buckingham, though he denied, was indeed the culprit and Morton as well. Morton's letter is not Buckingham's style and Richard realizes that Buckingham himself would seek the throne through an Act of Parliament and a copy of legitimization that could not bar him from the throne. Truly Morton's debauchery and treachery and Stafford's Machiavellian flamboyance make for strange bedfellows. The kingmaker has cast his die, forcing the hand of Richard to search everywhere for the princes; a distraction to his intention to establish rule and order to England and provide new justice. Time works against him. One thing bothers Morton: Stafford will not tell him where young Edward is buried, leaving doubts if he is really dead. Yet the perverted Morton offers to be Buckingham's kingmaker. He begins by spreading the word that Richard is the culprit who had a reason to dispatch them to protect his right to the throne. Then Morton gets confirmation from Margaret Beaufort of her alliance between Morton and her son Henry of Richmond. Buckingham is indeed expendable, a toy, like Morton's boys. For this insidious man of the cloth it's down to serious business for the Red Dragon advances.