Richard III · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Richard III by William Shakespeare.
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King Richard III
major
Also known as Richard, Gloucester, King Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Richard opens the play alone on a London street, confessing that peacetime leaves his misshapen body nothing to do but scheme. He has already set brother against brother, using a prophecy about the letter G to send Clarence to the Tower while smiling at him as a friend. His wit, self-loathing, and appetite for the throne drive every early maneuver, making him both the engine and the seductive voice of the tragedy.
Duke of Buckingham
major
Also known as Buckingham, cousin Buckingham, princely Buckingham, noble Buckingham
Buckingham moves through the court as Richard's chief enforcer, lending noble credibility to plots that would look naked coming from Gloucester alone. He thrives on proximity to power, but when Richard asks him to consent to the murder of the young princes, his nerve falters and the alliance begins to crack. His arc shows how complicity in tyranny curdles once the price becomes unspeakable.
Queen Elizabeth
major
Also known as Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville stands at the center of the court's factional warfare, hated by Richard and blamed by him for every royal slight. When Brakenbury bars her from the Tower, she protests that she is the princes' mother and no oath should keep her from them. Her dread for her sons and her sharp, wounded dignity make her the emotional counterweight to Richard's cold ascent.
Lady Anne
supporting
Also known as Anne, gentle Lady Anne, Anne Neville
Anne Neville mourns a husband and a father-in-law killed in the wars, and she has already cursed Richard to his face before he courts her. By the time she is crowned beside him, she wishes the golden circlet were red-hot steel, searing her rather than binding her to him. Her revulsion and captivity give the play its sharpest picture of how Richard's charm operates on the wounded.
George, Duke of Clarence
supporting
Also known as Clarence, George, poor Clarence, the noble Duke of Clarence
Clarence is taken to the Tower on the king's order, baffled that a wizard's prophecy about the letter G has made him a suspect. He greets Richard as a brother and confides his danger, never suspecting that the same brother planted the prophecy and the slander. His credulity and his blood tie to the throne make him the first proof of how cheaply Richard spends family.
Lord Hastings
supporting
Also known as Hastings, William Lord Hastings, the good Lord Hastings
Hastings belongs to the old Edwardian order, a man who once begged Mistress Shore for his liberty and believes his loyalty will protect him. He moves through the early court as a barometer of who currently has the king's ear, trading news with Clarence and Richard alike. His trust in the normal rules of favor makes him exactly the kind of man Richard's new rules are built to destroy.
King Edward IV
supporting
Also known as Edward, King Edward, good King Edward
Edward sits at the summit of the Yorkist triumph that opens the play, a monarch whose court has swapped battlefields for bedchambers and whose health is quietly failing. His fatal softness — heeding dreams, the letter G, and the counsel of his Woodville wife — lets Richard poison his ear against Clarence and hands the schemer his first opening. Edward's decline and death are the hinge on which the whole succession crisis swings, converting a family quarrel into a kingdom up for grabs.
Queen Margaret
supporting
Also known as Margaret, Queen Margaret of Anjou
Widow of Henry VI and mother of a murdered prince, Margaret lingers unwanted among the victors who killed her family, a living accusation no one can silence or safely expel. Her torrents of prophecy and malediction give the play its conscience and its dread, naming the doom that will find each Yorkist in turn. She matters because she alone refuses the amnesia of the new regime, and her curses set the moral clock ticking under every feast and council.
Duchess of York
supporting
Also known as Duchess, the Duchess of York, great York
As the aging mother of the House of York, she embodies the family's dynastic ambition and its mounting cost, caught between sons she loves and cannot reconcile. Her scenes of lament — especially beside the widowed queens — give the play its register of maternal grief and moral reckoning. She matters because she is the blood-tie Richard cannot sever, and her curse on her youngest son lands with the weight of a mother's authority.
Sir Richard Ratcliff
supporting
Also known as Ratcliff, Sir Richard Ratcliff
Ratcliff serves as Richard's military aide and confidential instrument, the kind of retainer who reports on troop morale and arms his king by candlelight before Bosworth. His blunt competence and unflinching loyalty make him the practical machinery of tyranny — the hands that carry out what the crown commands. He matters because his steady presence shows how Richard's power actually functions: not through charisma alone, but through men like Ratcliff who never flinch.
Sir William Catesby
supporting
Also known as Catesby, good Catesby, gentle Catesby
Catesby moves through the court as Richard's trusted agent, probing Hastings for support, carrying messages, and arranging the machinery of the protectorate. His smooth, ingratiating manner — 'good Catesby,' 'gentle Catesby' — masks a cold appraisal of who will rise and who will die, as when he notes aside that the princes 'account his head upon the bridge.' He matters because he shows how Richard's plots succeed through sociability and information, not just violence.
Lord Stanley
supporting
Also known as Stanley, the Lord Stanley, Thomas Stanley
Stanley navigates Richard's court with the wary prudence of a man whose son George is a hostage and whose stepson Richmond is the coming challenger. He warns Hastings against overconfidence, misdoubts the 'sudden stab of rancour,' and keeps his own counsel while quietly aiding the Tudor cause. He matters because his divided loyalty — public compliance, private resistance — embodies the precarious position of every noble caught between a tyrant and the future.
Earl Rivers
minor
Also known as Rivers, Lord Rivers, Anthony Woodville
Brother of Queen Elizabeth, arrested and executed by Richard.
Lord Grey
minor
Also known as Grey, Lord Grey
Son of Queen Elizabeth, executed alongside Rivers.
Marquis of Dorset
minor
Also known as Dorset, Lord Dorset, the Marquis Dorset
Son of Queen Elizabeth, who flees to join Richmond.
Sir Robert Brakenbury
minor
Also known as Brakenbury, Sir Robert Brakenbury
Lieutenant of the Tower, who guards Clarence and later the princes.
Sir James Tyrrel
minor
Also known as Tyrrel, James Tyrrel, gentle Tyrrel
Hired by Richard to murder the young princes in the Tower.
Prince Edward (Edward V)
minor
Also known as Young Edward, Edward, Prince Edward
Elder son of Edward IV, imprisoned and murdered in the Tower.
Richard, Duke of York
minor
Also known as York, young York, Prince Richard of York, noble York
Younger son of Edward IV, murdered alongside his brother.
Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond
supporting
Also known as Richmond, Henry, shallow Richmond
Richmond belongs to the Lancastrian remnant, a young earl kept safely abroad while Richard's court devours itself in suspicion and blood. His power is patience: he is the alternative that Richard's cruelty keeps inventing, the man other exiles and wronged nobles can gather around. In the early and middle acts he is a rumor and a hope rather than a presence, which is precisely why he matters — the play needs a future for its victims to imagine.
Sir Thomas Lovel
minor
Also known as Lovel, Sir Thomas Lovel
A messenger and minor courtier loyal to Richard.
Lord Mayor of London
minor
Also known as Mayor, Mayor of London
Civic leader manipulated by Richard to legitimize his claim.
Captain Blunt
minor
Also known as Blunt, good Captain Blunt, Good Captain Blunt
A loyal supporter of Richmond in the final battle.
Duke of Norfolk
minor
Also known as Norfolk, John Duke of Norfolk
A key commander in Richard's army at Bosworth.
Sir Thomas Vaughan
minor
Also known as Vaughan, Sir Thomas Vaughan
A loyalist to Edward V, executed by Richard.
King Henry VI
minor
Also known as King Henry the Sixth, Henry, Henry the Sixth, holy Harry
Deposed king murdered by Richard; appears as a ghost.
Cardinal Bourchier
minor
Also known as Cardinal, Cardinal Bourchier
Archbishop who is persuaded to fetch young York from sanctuary.
Mistress Shore
minor
Also known as Shore, Mistress Shore
Former mistress of Edward IV, punished by Richard.
Forrest
minor
Also known as Forrest
One of the murderers hired by Tyrrel to kill the princes.
Dighton
minor
Also known as Dighton
Accomplice to Forrest in murdering the princes.
Earl of Oxford
minor
Also known as Oxford
A commander fighting for Richmond at Bosworth Field.
Thomas, Earl of Surrey
minor
Also known as Surrey, Thomas Earl of Surrey
A nobleman fighting on Richard's side at Bosworth.
George Stanley
minor
Also known as George Stanley, young George Stanley, tender George
Son of Lord Stanley, held hostage by Richard.
Sir William Brandon
minor
Also known as Sir William Brandon
Standard-bearer for Richmond at Bosworth.
Sir Walter Herbert
minor
Also known as Sir Walter Herbert, Herbert
A supporter of Richmond.
Sir Gilbert Talbot
minor
Also known as Sir Gilbert Talbot
A supporter of Richmond.
Earl of Pembroke
minor
Also known as The Earl of Pembroke
A supporter of Richmond.
Prince Edward (son of Henry VI)
minor
Also known as Prince Edward, Edward
Son of Henry VI, killed at Tewkesbury; appears as a ghost.
Clifford
minor
Also known as Clifford
A minor character from the Wars of the Roses, mentioned but not present.
Rutland
minor
Also known as Rutland
Young son of York, killed by Clifford; appears as a ghost.
Lady Margaret Plantagenet
minor
Also known as Margaret, Plantagenet, Lady Margaret Plantagenet
Daughter of Clarence, mentioned but does not appear on stage.
Young Elizabeth
minor
Also known as young Elizabeth, Elizabeth
Daughter of Edward IV, courted by Richard and later married to Richmond.
Sir Edward Courtney
minor
Also known as Sir Edward Courtney, Edward
A supporter of Richmond.
Christopher Urswick
minor
Also known as Christopher, Derby Sir Christopher
A priest who serves as a messenger for Stanley.
Earl of Northumberland
minor
Also known as Northumberland, the melancholy Lord Northumberland
A nobleman who reluctantly supports Richard.
