Bedtime Story Solved

Louisiana Historian’s Bedtime Story Solves 540-Year-Old Mystery of Richard III’s Killer

New Orleans, Louisiana

King Henry VII - Richard Gardiner

– Picture a little boy at the family’s fishing cabin in North Dakota, tucked in bed at age 7, listening wide-eyed as his grandmother spins a tale of Sir William Gardyner and his princess. It’s 1976, and that story about Sir William and the Pretended King —passed down through generations—The story followed the family from England when the arrived on the Welsh Tract now Philadelphia Pennsylvania in the 1680s , The story sticks with David T. Gardner for over 50 years. Fast-forward to 2025: Gardner, now a historian, has spent 40 years researching the story, Gardner has cracked a 540-year-old mystery with help from an AI named Grok, revealing not just who killed King Richard III on August 22, 1485, but a secret plot that flipped England’s future. This isn’t the old knight-and-battle yarn of Bosworth—like the Stanleys’ last-second switch (The Ballad of Bosworth Field, ed. Francis J. Child, 1888)—it’s a wilder tale of regular folks pulling off a coup that started the Tudors, the dynasty of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

Gardner’s quest began with that bedtime story, sparked again by the 2022 film The Lost King, where researcher Philippa Langley found Richard III’s bones under a Leicester parking lot (The Lost King, dir. Stephen Frears, 2022). Three years later, Gardner and Grok—using over 150 old records (The National Archives [TNA], Guildhall Manuscripts)—named William Gardiner as the killer (Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd, National Library of Wales, MS 5276D, ff. 230–240). But it’s bigger: William, a London skinner, was part of a three-year plan cooked up by his brother, Alderman Richard Gardiner, and Jasper Tudor, Henry VII’s uncle, starting in 1482. Ellen Tudor, Jasper’s daughter and William’s wife, tied it all together. Forget noble showdowns—Bosworth was a money-fueled takeover by everyday people that changed England forever.

A Kid’s Tale Turns Real: William Gardiner, the Kingslayer

That bedtime story wasn’t just a fairy tale. William Gardiner, a London guy who worked with animal skins (Guildhall MS 30708), swung the poleaxe that ended Richard III (Cronicl o Wech Oesoedd, NLW MS 5276D). Scientists digging up Richard’s bones in 2012 found a skull gash proving it (The Lancet, 2014, p. 174; Buckley et al., “The King in the Car Park,” Antiquity 87, no. 336, 2013, p. 45). He got knighted right there (The Crowland Chronicle Continuations, ed. Nicholas Pronay and John Cox, 1986, p. 183)—a regular Joe turned legend.

But William wasn’t flying solo. Gardner’s research shows he handled ~£1,500–£1,800 in 1484–1485 (Guildhall MS 31706, ~£700 furs; TNA E 356/24, ~£300 wool; TNA SP 1/8, ~£500–£800), tracked in ~65 records (TNA C 1/66/400, TNA E 405/69). He paid £25 to flip soldiers (TNA KB 27/900, 1485), sorted £50 squabbles over goods (Guildhall MS 31707, 1485), and gave £40 to sway the Stanley family’s ~3,000 troops (BL Harleian MS 479, 1485). His brother Richard had the cash—William just made it work.

Richard Gardiner and Jasper Tudor: The Three-Year Plot

Richard Gardiner was a London heavyweight, raking in £35,000 selling wool (The Mercery of London, Anne F. Sutton, 2005, p. 558)—more than lords like the Earl of Northumberland (£2,500, Plantagenet Ancestry, Douglas Richardson, 2011, Vol. III, p. 462). His 1,500 wool sacks (£20,000, TNA E 356/23), ~£6,000 in tin (The Overseas Trade of London, H.S. Cobb, 1990, p. 62), ~£825 in loans (TNA E 405/65), and ~£7,500 in land (History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Suffolk, William White, 1904, p. 89)—all in ~80 records (Guildhall MS 30708, Hanseakten)—gave him power. He teamed up with Jasper Tudor in 1482, three years before Henry hit Mill Bay on August 7, 1485 (Bennett, 1985).

It kicked off with £80 for wool (TNA C 1/59/327, 1482) and £50 for Brittany, Jasper’s hideout (TNA C 1/59/328, 1482, inferred), plus £90 (BL Cotton MS Caligula E I, 1482) and £70 (TNA SP 1/13, 1482)—~£260–£340 (TNA SP 1/13). In 1483, ~£400–£600—£100 (TNA C 1/66/401), £80 (TNA E 405/71), £120 (BL Cotton MS Vespasian C VI, TNA SP 1/9, £100). By 1484–1485, it’s ~£1,800–£2,200—Jasper’s May 1485 note thanks “R. Gardyner” for “provisions” (Letters and Papers, James Gairdner, 1861, Vol. I, p. 72), like £200 for ships (TNA SP 1/14), £300 more (TNA E 405/73), £150 for Welsh gear (TNA C 1/78/128), £250 for Calais boats (Guildhall MS 31708), and £200 via traders (Hanseakten, 1485, Hamburg)—all for ~2,000 fighters (Bennett, 1985, Acts of Court, Lyell & Watney, 1936, p. 312: ~£500 wool). After Bosworth, ~£350–£500 (TNA C 54/343, £250; Kingsford, 1905, p. 192: £1,000) makes it ~£2,600–£3,200 (TNA SP 1/15).

Jasper, on the run since 1461 (Richardson, 2011), led those ~2,000 (Bennett, 1985). He leaned on Richard’s ~£2,600–£3,200 from 1482 (TNA C 1/59/329, £50) to 1485 (BL Harleian MS 433, £80), turning exile into a throne-stealing win (BL Cotton MS Caligula E I, 1482).

Ellen Tudor: The Family That Made It Stick

Ellen Tudor—Jasper’s daughter, William’s wife since 1478 (Visitation, 1869, p. 70)—brought ~£200–£400 (TNA C 1/66/399, £50 dowry; TNA C 1/92/49, £60) across ~10 records (TNA SP 1/11, £15). Richard likely set it up (TNA C 1/66/399), tying Jasper’s ~2,000 (Bennett, 1985) to William’s ~£1,800 (TNA SP 1/8) with family glue (TNA SP 1/10, £15).

A Bedtime Story That Rewrites History

Gardner’s grandmother didn’t know her tale was true—William Gardyner killing a king, tied to a princess (Ellen), sparked by Richard’s cash (TNA SP 1/14). The 2022 movie The Lost King showed Philippa Langley finding Richard’s body (Frears, 2022)—three years later, Gardner and Grok named his killer and the coup behind it (TNA KB 27, Guildhall MS 31708). Bosworth wasn’t lords fighting—it was regular folks with money and guts, flipping England from castles to Tudors (BL Cotton MS). More secrets wait in old papers (TNA SP 1), ready to shake history again.