Although preparations had been made for the coronation, and the City had appointed representatives from the livery companies to assist the chief butler at the banquet(950) according to custom, that ceremony never took place. Gloucester feared that if once the young king was crowned, the project which he had already begun to entertain of transferring the crown to his own head would be less capable of realization. Although he took an oath of allegiance to the new king,(951) it was not long before he determined to feel the pulse of the citizens as to their feelings towards himself as a claimant of the crown.
In order to do this he called to his assistance Dr. Shaw, an eminent preacher, whose brother, Sir Edmund Shaa, or Shaw, happened to be mayor at the time. Acting upon instructions from Gloucester, Shaw preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on Sunday, the 22nd June (1483), in which he charged the late king with bigamy, Edward IV having, as he declared, made a contract of marriage with one of his mistresses before he married Elizabeth Woodville, and this being the case the late king's children by her were illegitimate, and Gloucester was the rightful heir to the throne. It was arranged that at this point in his discourse Gloucester himself should appear on the scene, coming up, as if by chance, from his lodgings at Castle Baynard. By some mischance the duke failed to appear at the proper moment, and the effect was lost. The citizens sat stolidly silent, not a single cry being raised in favour of Gloucester.
Nothing daunted by this dismal failure, Gloucester made another and more successful attempt to win over the citizens. On the following Tuesday (24 June) he sent the Duke of Buckingham to harangue the citizens at the Guildhall. The duke began by reminding his hearers of the danger to which their wives and daughters had been exposed under the late king; of the undue influence exercised at court by Jane Shore,(952) one only of a number of respectable women whom Edward, he said, had seduced; of the excessive taxes and illegal extortions by way of "benevolences" they had recently suffered, and of the cruel treatment of their own alderman, Cooke. He then went on to repeat the remarks of Dr. Shaw touching the illegitimacy of the princes, and spoke of the dangers of having a boy king on the throne, concluding by saying that although it were doubtful if Gloucester would accept the crown if asked, he would certainly be greatly influenced by any request proceeding from the "worshipful citizens of the metropolis of the kingdom."(953) Buckingham's eloquence was lost on the citizens, who were as little influenced by what their new Recorder, Thomas Fitz-William, had to say on the matter. At length the duke lost patience and plainly told them that the matter lay entirely with the lords and commons, and that the assent of the citizens, however desirable in itself, was not a necessity. By this time the back of the hall was packed with Gloucester's partisans, so that when Buckingham put the question pointedly to the assembly--would they have the Protector assume the crown?--a cry of assent arose from this quarter and was taken up by a few lads and apprentices. This was enough; the voice of the few was accepted as the voice of the many, and the citizens were bidden to attend on the morrow to petition Gloucester to accept the crown.