Perhaps the central controversy involved with Richard III is the degree of its historical accuracy. Many scholars are of the opinion that the play was written as propaganda for the Tudor dynasty, not unlike one of Shakespeare's primary sources for the play, Sir Thomas More's The History of King Richard III, as well as several earlier plays with the same subject. Of course, Shakespeare and the other playwrights of the time had to walk a tightrope when dealing with topics like this one. That's why it's so astonishing to find this bit of coded commentary on whether or not "history" can be trusted. It comes from the first scene of the third act, and it occurs as part of a conversation between Richard, his henchman the Duke of Buckingam, and the young Prince Edward, who should have been crowned Edward V, but was instead murdered in the Tower of London (at Richard's orders according to the play, but there's disagreement on the subject among historians). The young prince shows his intelligence in his remarks regarding the difference between history that is "upon record" versus the type that is "reported", and of course the remarks can be extrapolated to apply to the entire play. And it's worth noting that Buckingham's reply to the prince's follow-up question isn't true. Here's the excerpt:

PRINCE EDWARD

Say, uncle Gloucester, if our brother come,

Where shall we sojourn till our coronation?

GLOUCESTER

Where it seems best unto your royal self.

If I may counsel you, some day or two

Your highness shall repose you at the Tower:

Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit

For your best health and recreation.

PRINCE EDWARD

I do not like the Tower, of any place.

Did Julius Caesar build that place, my lord?

BUCKINGHAM

He did, my gracious lord, begin that place;

Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified.

PRINCE EDWARD

Is it upon record, or else reported

Successively from age to age, he built it?

BUCKINGHAM

Upon record, my gracious lord.

PRINCE EDWARD

But say, my lord, it were not register'd,

Methinks the truth should live from age to age,

As 'twere retail'd to all posterity,

Even to the general all-ending day.

GLOUCESTER

[Aside] So wise so young, they say, do never

live long.

PRINCE EDWARD

What say you, uncle?

GLOUCESTER

I say, without characters, fame lives long.

[Aside]

Thus, like the formal vice, Iniquity,

I moralize two meanings in one word.

PRINCE EDWARD

That Julius Caesar was a famous man;

With what his valour did enrich his wit,

His wit set down to make his valour live

Death makes no conquest of this conqueror;

For now he lives in fame, though not in life.