UKTV - The Man who Killed Richard III (2016)

The history of a Welshman who claimed that he killed Richard III at Bosworth battlefield, ensuring that Henry Tudor could claim the throne of England and Wales by establishing the reign of the Tudors. A taste of conspiracy, changing sides, love, blood and wealth. Sir Rhys ap Thomas was ahead of his time in many ways and yet he made the most of his opportunities. Evidence from poets as well as discovering the body of Richard III reinforces the belief that the brave soldier from Dinefwr was the King's killer. He was honoured and became one of King Henry VII's leading servants in Wales. This is a story of conspiracy and betrayal, of a lust for power, and a lost allegiance; the story of the man who killed King Richard III. “The Man Who Killed Richard III” sets out to prove that the Welshman Sir Rhys ap Thomas, master of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, killed King Richard III, paving the way for the Tudor monarchy and changing the course of British history. On 22 August 1485 on a battlefield in Bosworth, Leicestershire, King Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet kings, was dealt a death blow by the man who had sworn loyalty to him only a few months earlier. That man was Rhys ap Thomas, a Welsh lord, master of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire. For his service that day he was knighted on the field of battle by Henry Tudor. Rhys ap Thomas's life had been inextricably linked with both Richard and Henry; all three young men grew up under the shadow of the Wars of the Roses, suffering losses and betrayals. Ironically, on his death Rhys chose to spend his final days at the Grey Friars in Carmarthen and was buried by the monks just as Richard had been almost forty years before, perhaps in an act of remorse. This one hour programme uncovers the history of this remarkable soldier, a man who helped forge the course of British history.

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