ABSTRACT
Lady Anne (Anne Neville, 1456-85) was the daughter of Warwick (a powerful member of the nobility and known as ‘the king-maker’) and married Richard of Gloucester (later King Richard III) in 1474. Shakespeare departs from history in (a) having her previously married (line 4) and (b) making Richard the murderer of both her (fictional) father-in-law (Henry VI) and her husband. (Historically they both died in 1471.) In the play we first see her at the funeral of Henry VI, where she curses Richard; but, he hypnotises her with his words and she agrees to marry him. This scene is twelve years later and Henry Vi’s successor, Edward IV, is not long dead; his son Edward V is only twelve and Richard is ruling the country as Lord Protector.
