Cultural depictions of Richard III of England Cultural depictions of Richard III of England Richard III of England has been depicted in literature and popular culture many times. In the Tudor period he was invariably portrayed as a villain, most famously in Shakespeare's play "Richard III", but also in other literature of the period. Richard's life was not much depicted again until the 20th century when the "Ricardian" movement sought to restore his reputation. Much of more recent creative literature has portrayed him in a positive light. However his reputation as a hunchbacked villain has remained a familiar historical cliché within popular culture. The foremost work of
Richard III of England it was never published and nothing is known about its portrayal of the king. Marjorie Bowen's 1929 novel "Dickon" set the trend for pro-Ricardian literature. Particularly influential was "The Daughter of Time" (1951) by Josephine Tey, in which a modern detective concludes that Richard III is innocent in the death of the Princes. Other novelists such as Valerie Anand in the novel "Crown of Roses" (1989) have also offered alternative versions to the theory that he murdered them. Sharon Kay Penman, in her historical novel "The Sunne in Splendour", attributes the death of the Princes to the Duke of Buckingham.