King Richard III (born 2 October, 1452 and killed 23 August, 1485) remains to this day one of England's most notorious figures in history, despite having only ruled England for two years. The final Plantagenet king and last English king to die in battle, Richard was one of the major players in the medieval Wars of the Roses, a civil war that lasted over thirty years and was fought between two factions of the Plantagenet dynasty, for the right to rule: the Lancasters, and the Yorks.

Following his death at the Battle of Bosworth, and the usurpation of the Plantagenet crown by the Tudor dynasty, Richard III's history and character were largely slandered by the Tudors to legitimize their weak claim to the English throne - creating what would come to be called the 'Tudor Myth' by medievalists and historians. However, for over 500 years, these rumors and misconceptions were considered the truth (after all, history is written by the victors). It wasn't until Richard III's body, which had mysteriously disappeared following his death, was discovered buried beneath a car park in Leicester in September 2012 that much of this supposed 'truth' was called into question by the public, rather than only a handful of Ricardian historians, academics, and interested individuals.

The discovery of his bones immediately proved much of the Tudor Myth regarding Richard false - the supposed hunchback and withered arm were both lies, as clearly seen from the skeleton. There was absolutely nothing to support the story of a withered arm, and Richard was found to have suffered from a severe degree of adolescent-onset idiopathic scoliosis - a condition that would've been hidden from view by his clothing, much unlike the idea of a prominent hunchback. Forensic science also provided remarkable insights into his life, as well as a detailed picture of his violent death on the battlefield.

Of course, one of the largest mysteries involving Richard - the disappearance of his two nephews, the young Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, from their rooms in the Tower of London shortly before Richard III's coronation - remains unsolved to this day, despite the skeletal finds. However, in the past century or two, historians have begun to question the contemporary stories (rumors) of their supposed murder by their uncle - with a handful of other candidates to choose from, it's entirely possible that someone else in power was to blame for the mystery of what happened to the Princes in the Tower. The general consensus that Richard III was to blame was just another aspect of the Tudor Myth.