MovieChat Forums > The White Queen (2013) Discussion > the two omissions that bothered me most

the two omissions that bothered me most

posted 9 years ago by Rheli
6 replies | jump to latest

Richard's scoliosis

No periscope ending to tell us about the deaths of son's in the Tudor line and about the eventual finding of the corpses of the princes.

[–] shellieeyre 9 years ago

It's by no means certain that the bodies traditionally thought to be those of Edward V and his brother are in fact theirs.

The book was written before the discovery of the remains of RIII, a discovery which revealed the deformity of the spine, and I don't think that DNA confirmation not available until after the series had been filmed.

I'm the clever one; you're the potato one.

[–] eyeguy72 9 years ago

That's because the story continues in The White Princess.

"You weren't born pretty and it isn't fair"

[–] shellieeyre 9 years ago

The White Princess makes no sense on the subject. Actually it makes no sense on any subject.

I'm the clever one; you're the potato one.

[–] There_Is_No_Sayid 9 years ago

Richards scoliosis wouldn't have been obvious to observers. He wasn't a hunchback or something, he just had a crooked spine.

[–] Babyfat101 (221) 6 years ago

This is what I thought too. Shakespeare wildly exaggerated his condition...and now that’s the visual people have of RIII.

[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

I saw a BBC or PBS history special that was made after Richard's skeleton was found, and the scoliosis discovered. Somehow the historians being interviewed found a man of Richard's height, weight, and age, and with the exact same deformities of the spine. They put him in the armor of Richard's era and had him try some of the physical stuff that would have been expected of a king of that era.

They found that the scoliosis wasn't a handicap in battle, not like you'd think. The modern guy found that the plate armor and the period saddle supported his back quite comfortably, and he was able to swing a sword like any other guy. And he looked normal enough in clothes, too, the bulky gowns of Richard's era would have helped to disguise any oddities of posture.