Written by: Sayuri Shrestha - 28017, Grade VIII
Posted on: 03 October, 2023
The Princes in the Tower is one of the oldest unsolved cases in England's history. The disappearance of two princes, Edward and Richard, is one of the most intriguing 'murders' of the Tower of London.
In 1483 at the age of 41 King Edward IV passed away in his bed due to possible pneumonia or typhoid. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who was in the north of England, did not hear of his brother’s death immediately. People thought this was because of their mother Elizabeth Woodville who wanted her son’s rise to the throne to be fixed before Richard discovered the king had died.
When the news finally reached him, a few days later, Richard rushed to meet his nephews. On King Edward IV's death bed the king trusted his younger brother Richard (Duke of Gloucester), as the Lord Protector to his sons. On reaching London, Gloucester had Edward placed in the Tower of London ‘for his protection’.
After their father's death Prince Edward at the age of 12 was going to be the new king and his brother Richard became the Duke of York at the age of 9. It is said that after the death of King Edward and his brother Richard, they were sent to live at the Tower of London ahead of Edward's coronation. However, on June 25, The Duke of Gloucester declared that his nephews were illegitimate and that he was the only true heir.
He gathered support from many powerful sources and was crowned Richard III on July 6. It is said that the two princes were taken to inner apartments within the tower and were not seen in public again after the summer of 1483. After that, it was rumoured that the two princes were murdered on the orders of their uncle to remove any threat to his throne.
Shakespeare also claimed this theory in his play Richard III. After the War of the Roses, Richard was replaced by Henry VII. King Richard III's body was buried without ceremony and later found in 2012 in what had become a car park. In 1674, the bones of two children of similar ages were found beneath the staircase in the White Tower at the Tower of London. The box contained "rags of velvet" and matched the location given by the princes. After that two more bodies were found in the castle. The bodies were placed in an urn and interred at Westminster Abbey. The bodies were placed in the Royal Crypts, and any further investigation required the monarch's consent.
The discovery of Richard III's body sparked interest in the tale of the Princes in the Tower. People wanted to know more about the situation, However, the Church of England, with backing from the Queen and other ministers, repeatedly refused to allow testing to see if bones buried in Westminster Abbey were those of the princes.
For years experts have wanted to run tests on the remains of four children, two found in the Tower of London in the 1600s and two in the grounds of Windsor Castle in the 1700s. However, to run tests experts need permission from the monarch to carry out the tests. The late Queen blocked any such investigations regarding the bodies found.
Regardless, a month after the queen's passing speculated news had come out regarding King Charles III being supportive of the investigations regarding the princes. After 539 years, the examination of the DNA testing of the two princes was executed. In 2021, researchers claimed they had found evidence that Richard III may not have killed the princes, but instead allowed the older boy, Edward V, to live in secret under a false name in a rural Devon village.
They believe Edward's mother Elizabeth Woodville made a secret deal with Richard III, and that the idea was to have false information that the boys were murdered, just to the end of the War of the Roses.
But despite skeletons being found in the Tower in 1674, 200 years after their supposed death, no evidence of Edward and Richard's murder has ever been discovered yet.
SOURCES:
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Princes-in-the-Tower/
