这本书写作于多个层面之上。这是一部有关神秘事件的小说——与一切有历史记载的事实只有两步之遥；但其核心是一些你可以信赖或自行研究的历史事实。王子的死亡，传统上归咎于理查三世，我相信，不是他的所作所为；也有几位历史学家提出，有一个王子实际上幸存下来，他们的作品列在最后。我倾向于相信我在此所叙述的版本。不过，没有人知道确切的答案，甚至到现在也没有。
伊丽莎白寡后对西姆内尔叛乱的支持，让我觉得她是在和亨利七世（以及她自己的女儿）争夺一个首席候选人。我不认为她会为了自己的儿子冒险让自己的女儿登上王位。她在一个自称是理查德的年轻人登陆英格兰之前就去世了，但是她的婆婆塞西莉公爵夫人似乎很支持这个冒牌货。威廉·斯坦利爵士的支持（对他兄弟的继子提起诉讼）也记录在案。斯坦利去世时没有为站在冒牌货那边道歉，这让我觉得，他认为伪装者可能会赢，他认为自己的诉求是正确的。
这位最终被不确定地命名为波金·沃贝克的年轻人所受到的待遇也非常奇怪。我认为，亨利七世在宫廷更衣室中放火烧毁了希恩宫，随后策划了他的逃跑，最终陷入了与沃里克伯爵的叛国阴谋，以图将“这个男孩”赶出宫廷。
大多数历史学家都会同意：即便没有亨利七世的资助，这场沃里克阴谋也是得到过他的准许，只为除掉那两个对他王位的威胁，而且他们俩的死亡确实是西班牙国王和王后想要的——之后西班牙才会应允凯瑟琳公主和亚瑟王子的婚姻。
我们可能永远不会知道那个自称是理查德王子并承认是“波金·沃贝克”的年轻人的身份，但可以肯定的是，都铎时代的事件未必是事实，安妮·瓦罗的细致研究曾揭示这场骗局的结构。
本书的写作目的并非声称揭示真相。它只是一部基于对这些迷人时代的许多研究的小说，我希望它能充满爱和尊重，探寻那些不为人知的故事和不为人知的人物。
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