Richard III by William Shakespeare - "How genuine was the relationship between Richard and Buckingham?"

Richard III by William Shakespeare "How genuine was the relationship between Richard and Buckingham?" This essay is to assess how authentic the friendship between the cunning Richard and the apt and able Buckingham, discussing whether they were ever truly friends or whether they were just using each other to get what they wanted. Throughout their so-called "friendship", Richard and Buckingham stood by each other through thick and thin on the course of Richard's rise to …

…finally realised that Buckingham had reached a point of anguish when he faltered when asked to dispose of the Princes. This was the point of the end of the relationship and Buckingham seemed to have reached his "sell-by date", doing all that was within his power to aid Richard's rise to the throne, but it quickly became apparent that Buckingham was not willing to murder the Princes and so became non-beneficial to Richard's continuing problems.