On the 10th of May Edward was lodged in the Tower of London to prepare for his coronation. Richard held a council meeting and began dismissing his opponents and promoting his followers.
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He was declared Lord Protector by the Council and given “the tutelage and oversight of the King’s most royal person.” However, the position was limited until Edward’s coronation, around six weeks away, not the three years Richard was expecting. The Council tried to persuade the Queen to leave the sanctuary, but she wouldn’t. The coronation date was rescheduled to June 22nd.
Three days later Richard called a Parliamentary sitting in the name of Edward V. The Kings Councilors deferred to Parliament the decision to make Richard Lord Protector until Edward reached his majority. Soon Richard was promoting his supporters and promoted the Duke of Buckingham to the Constable of England giving him control of the Tower of London, where the young King now resided.
In late May, the Council began to be concerned about the safety of the young King and Richard’s motives. The Council had found its power reduced in favor of Richard’s supporters – John Howard (Duke of Norfolk), Henry Stafford (Duke of Buckingham), Francis Lovell (Viscount Lovell), Bishop Robert Stillington, John de la Pole (Earl of Lincoln and Richard’s nephew), and Bishop Thomas Langton.
On the 8th of June the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Robert Stillington, presented evidence that King Edward IV was contracted to marry another woman before Elizabeth Woodville. Effectively this makes the Royal children illegitimate and unable to claim the Throne. The loyalty of the powerful Duke of Hastings was then secretly sounded out, he said he would accept Richard as the Lord Protector, but not as the King.