Richard III

**Richard III**, King of Angelona, of House Beaumont, born in Bourgenay in 1556, died 1607, was an Angelonian King from 1584 to his death in 1607.

## Early life

Richard was born in Bourgenay, the eldest son of Henry III and Catherine de Bourbon. As a young boy Richard was keen on horse riding, hunting and sword fighting and by the age of 20 had obtained a popular reputation as a grand jousting Knight. Upon the death of his grandfather, Richard II, he became second in line to the Angelonian throne in 1581.

Richard married Constantia Eriksdotter of Sweden in 1582, who was the daughter of the deposed King Eric XIV of Sweden.

## King of Angelona

Richard was crowned King of Angelona in 1584 after the death of his father and went on to become a well respected and popular King. Prior to being crowned King, he was already hugely popular thanks to his skill at jousting, but his skill as a statesmen bought him even greater favour.

In 1585, Richard granted acts of piracy against Ottoman and French targets legal, despite a treaty. During his reign, a number of pirates shot to notoriety, such as Edward de Roselac and William de Wyvenrock.

Richard refused to send troops to support the Catholic League of France in 1590, when Pope Gregory XIV sent requests to Catholic monarchs for the French Wars of Religion. Richard further angered the Pope, when he created laws stipulating religious freedoms and tolerance for non-Catholic Christians. As a result many Protestant, Calvinists and Huguenots sought refuge in Angelona.

Richard maintained strong relations with Queen Elizabeth I of England and the two met on a number of occasions. During there reigns, the Angelonian settlement, Port Elizabeth, grew immensely with many English merchants setting up base.

Angelona became a banking powerhouse during Richard's reign, after he allowed his Royal Treasurer, a Jew by the name of Josel de Rothenheim, to begin money lending and transferring funds. Merchants across Europe came to trust the Rothenheim bankers largely because it was guaranteed by the Angelonian crown. By 1600, Josel de Rothenheim had a network of Jewish bankers across Europe and in virtually every major European city. Rothenheim became such a close friend and advisor to the King, that he enacted laws, preventing religious persecution and acceptance of Jew's in Angelona.

## Death

The King's health remained fair until the autumn of 1607, when a series of deaths among his close friends and advisors plunged him into a severe depression. In March, Richard fell sick and remained in a "settled and unremovable melancholy". He died on 2 March 1607 at the Palace of Burgonia, between two and three in the morning. A few hours later, the Royal council convened and announced Prince Edward as King of Angelona.

Richard's coffin was carried downriver at night to the Cathedral of Bourgenay on a barge lit with torches. At his funeral on 8 April, the coffin was taken to Abbey of Saint Francis on a hearse drawn by four white horses hung with black velvet. In the words of the chronicler John de Arryn:
"Bourgenay was surcharged with multitudes of all sorts of people in their streets, houses, windows, leads and gutters, that came out to see the obsequy, and when they beheld his statue lying upon the coffin, there was such a general sighing, groaning and weeping as the like hath not been seen or known in the memory of man."

Richard was interred in the Abbey of Saint Francis. The Latin inscription on his tomb, was engraved "For my Kingdom and people, I watch over you in Heaven, protecting in death as I did in life for eternity."

## Children

Issue:

* Edward III, 1583-1659
* Francis, Prince of Scotneyshire, 1586-1645
* John, Prince of Monfortshire, 1590-1651
* Maria Catharina, 1590-1662
* Elisabeth, 1593-1655
* Christian I, 1599-1682