Heyo! Happy Monday! We're back to 3 posts a week as long as my mental health allows. Today we are focusing on the mystery of two princes as the title suggests. I am but a dumb American who had a past fixation with British history - and everything British if I'm being honest. A former, and recovered teaboo if you will.
Disclaimer: This post mentions the alleged (theorized) murder of children. I have plenty of other more lighthearted history posts you can check out if this one is too dark.
A very long time ago - I was still in elementary school - my mother bought a book that was all about British monarchs. That was my first brush with the story of the Princes in the Tower. They didn't even have a whole page. Just a little section in King Richard III's chapter. Consider this post, me giving them their own page.
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| King Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower of London painted by Paul Delaroche |
Let's start at the beginning. Edward V was born on November 2, 1470, to King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. He would become the de jure King of England upon his father's death in 1483, however, he was only twelve at the time. So his father's brother, Richard, Duke of Glouster acted as England's regent since Edward V was so young. Edward V and his younger brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, aged nine at the time, were put in the Tower of London by the Duke of Gloucester. At the time it was normal for monarchs to reside in the Tower of London leading up to their coronation.
The Duke of Gloucester kept postponing Edward V's coronation. Pushing it back from May til June. Then on June 22, 1483, Dr. Ralph Shaa claimed that the Duke of Gloucester was the only legitimate heir. A few days later, Parliament declared Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury as illegitimate on a technicality of their father's previous "pre-contract of marriage" to Lady Eleanor Butler. The act of Parliament is known as Titulus Regius. The Duke of Gloucester was then crowned King Richard III on July 6, 1483.
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| The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower painted by John Everett Millais |
Several people had reported seeing the two Princes on Tower grounds, playing after Richard of Shrewsbury arrived. However, there are no reports of the boys being seen after the summer of 1483. To this day, over 500 years later, no one knows what happened to the Princes in the Tower.
This is where the theories come in. There are mostly dark theories about the boys' deaths, but a few that are tame.
The most popular theory is that Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury were murdered by order of their uncle, Richard III. However, this theory is based more on rumors and fiction than actual evidence. There are several allegations of who actually carried out the murder. The long list of suspects includes Henry Stafford, King Henry VII, and Lady Margaret Beaufort.
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| The Princes in the Tower painted by James Northcote |
The most interesting of the suspects is Sir James Tyrell, who worked under Richard III. He confessed to murdering the boys before his execution in 1502. Claiming that the Princes were smothered to death by Miles Forrest and John Dighton.
In 1674, a wooden box containing two small skeletons was found in the Tower of London. The location where the bones were found matched an account of where the boys were allegedly buried. These two skeletons were not the first children's skeletons found in the Tower of London, but they were placed in an urn and interred in Westminster Abbey by King Charles II, a few years later. In 1933, the bones were removed and examined by Lawrence Tanner, Professor William Wright, and George Norcroft. However, the examination has been heavily criticized and did not provide substantial evidence that the bones belonged to the Princes.
Around 1487, a boy named Lambert Simnel claimed to be the long-lost Richard of Shrewsbury. He also claimed to be Edward Plantagenet. It is believed he was just a boy from humble beginnings who was a pawn used for politics. Three years later, Perkin Warbeck also claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury. He was claimed by the real prince's aunt, Margaret of York as well as James IV of Scotland. He led an unsuccessful invasion of England and was imprisoned by King Henry VII. During his imprisonment, he retracted his claim and confessed to being an imposter. He was executed in 1499. The two claims, though false led people to believe that maybe Prince Richard had survived after all.
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| The Princes in the Tower painted by Henrietta Mary Ada Ward |
There is some alleged evidence that Edward V lived out his days in Coldridge as a man named John Evans who arrived in the village in 1484. John Evans was given the title of Lord of the Manor and commissioned Yorkist symbols and a stained glass art of Edward V in the Coldridge chapel in 1511.
Personally, I have no idea which theory I believe. I don't want to believe two children were brutally murdered in a claim for power, but history is dark and that does seem like the most logical theory. The world may never know what happened to the Princes in the Tower, but King Charles II has the power to help identify the remains that Charles II had interred all those years ago.
I previously wrote about King Richard III's remains being found in a parking lot and you should check that out if this post piqued your interest.
If you enjoyed learning about this dark time in history, please check out my other That Time,,, posts! If you have any other moments in history that interest you, drop them in the comments I'm always looking for new things to learn and write about. Have a great week!
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