George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence not present – Edward himself prosecuted his brother, and demanded that Parliament pass a Bill of Attainder against his brother, declaring that he was guilty of "unnatural, loathly treasons" which were aggravated by the fact that Clarence was his brother, who, if anyone did, owed him loyalty and love. Following his conviction, he was "privately executed" at the Tower on 18 February 1478, by tradition in the Bowyer Tower, and soon after the event, the rumour gained ground that he had been drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. Richard III biographer Paul Murray Kendall believes that the reason that
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence to Elizabeth Woodville. Despite several flowery speeches proclaiming loyalty to Warwick and to Henry VI, Clarence defects back to Edward IV's side almost as soon as he sees his brothers again; it takes only a few lines for his brothers to shame him into rejoining the Yorkist party. Several lines reference his penchant for wine. In "Richard III", the play opens with Gloucester having framed Clarence for treason, using a soothsayer to sow doubt in the King's mind about his brother, and in the first scene Clarence is arrested and taken to the Tower. Gloucester nimbly stage-manages Clarence's death, fast-tracking