The Truth about the Princes in the Tower

In the full knowledge that he was about to die, Edward IV's major concern was appointing a Protector. This was someone who would rule in lieu of his young son; and keep his family safe until Edward V was old enough to take his place.

There were really only two contenders.  One was his wife, Queen Elizabeth Woodville, who would undoubtedly act with their son's interests at heart. The other was his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who had been loyal throughout his life.

The father in him would have reached for Elizabeth. The ruler in him knew that Richard was the only sane option.

England would never accept a Queen Regent. They had experienced one under Margaret of Anjou, and that had sparked the whole Wars of the Roses. England would accept Richard. His brother had been beside Edward IV in every major battle and trial of his reign. He knew what to do.

On April 9th 1483, Edward IV died in Westminster and was initially buried in St George's Chapel, in Windsor Castle. Further north, in Ludlow Castle, his son was proclaimed king; while in London, it was announced that Richard would be Lord Protector.

Edward V's progression south began immediately.  As young and bereft as he was, the boy had to be seen to take up office in London. He had to be crowned.

However, that journey was intercepted. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Protector of the Realm, met his nephew and diverted him to the Palace of the Bishop of London. There Richard arranged for various peers to come and swear loyalty to his twelve year old nephew, King Edward V.

It was only after a council, a couple of days later, that it was decided to relocate the boy to the Tower of London. No apparent prison in this instance. It was also a commonly used royal residence. The boy king was going there for his own safety, Richard told him, until the day of his coronation.

This too was entirely common sense. The House of Lancaster could easily arrange an 'accident' for the adolescent monarch.

The initial trouble came from Richard's own House of York though. He had not been officially told when Edward IV had died. He had to learn about it by an informant. It quickly became apparent that the Woodvilles were attempting to stop him becoming Lord Protector. He quickly arranged for the brother of the Queen to be arrested, plus her son from a previous marriage and members of her retinue.

By June 10th 1483, Richard was convinced enough of another internal York threat in London, that he sent word north for military reinforcements.

Things moved quickly thereon. Several conspirators were accused at a council on June 13th, with their ringleader - Lord Hastings - being executed on the same day.

However, the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Woodville, had learned to act on her instinct. On May 1st 1483, she had gathered together the rest of her family and fled into the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. By the laws of the day, no-one could touch them there. They could not be arrested or forced to go elsewhere, until they left the holy building.

An illegitimate child could not be crowned King of England. The boy in the Tower could not be called Edward V, nor would his little brother be his heir.

Just as London was reeling from these revelations, older rumors began to resurface. Anyone who could count to nine on their fingers had wondered about the legitimacy of Edward IV himself. His father, Richard, 3rd Duke of York, had been fighting in Pontoise, France, when the Duchess Cecily became pregnant in Rouen.

Those stories had been heard before, notably when a second brother, George, Duke of Clarence, had tried to usurp Edward IV to claim the throne for himself. It had been quashed by their mother, who stated outright that her husband HAD popped home to visit her in 1441.

Now all of London, and further afield, were muttering that she would say that, wouldn't she?  Maybe there was some truth in the rumors. Plus what was an English king doing being born and baptised in Rouen?

The Duchess Cecily was still alive in 1483. She flew into an absolute rage over this. Despite the fact that Richard never once publicly repeated the claim that Edward IV had been illegitimate (thus rendering Edward V's legitimacy as a monarch doubly dubious), Cecily certainly blamed him for this particular resurgence of gossip.

She told anyone who'd listen 'of that great injury which her son Richard had done her'.

However, Parliament really wasn't too concerned about the circumstances of Edward IV's birth. That was merely common tittle-tattle, creating a greater background of scandal and controversy. Instead, when the House met on June 25th 1483, it was to discuss the man's marriage instead.

It was proved to its satisfaction (and convenience) that Edward IV had been betrothed to Lady Eleanor Butler (aka Lady Eleanor Talbot). The Bishop of Bath and Wells stepped forward to state that he'd officiated himself at a clandestine wedding ceremony.

Edward IV had not been at liberty to marry Elizabeth Woodville.  Therefore Edward V could not be king.

The natural born heirs to the throne should have been the children of George, Duke of Clarence, but an act of attainder had already knocked them out of the succession. That was the penalty for his earlier attempt at usurpation.

Which left, well, Richard, Duke of Gloucester.  With a great show of reluctance, he asked to think about it.  The next day, he humbly agreed to become Richard III.

This, of course, afforded their mother Elizabeth Woodville plenty of opportunity for news about her boys. She'd taken a lot of money and jewels into sanctuary with her, so she had the means to pay informants. Moreover, this was still a York monarchy, and many inside the Tower would have been secretly still loyal to the deposed Edward V.

Throughout England and Wales, there were plenty more supporters too. As the news spread about Richard's claim to the throne, several open rebellions broke out, particularly in the south of England.

Richard's response was to confine the boys to quarters. It lessened their availability to Woodville conspirators, who might be planning to seize the children.

This was no idle paranoia. The uprisings spread like wildfire, but Richard had been able to put them all down. Plus he'd received word of The Sanctuary Plot, whereby Elizabeth planned to sneak her daughters across the Channel into France.

With the princesses at liberty to enter into marriages with the royal families of Europe, then there could soon be continental armies ready to fight for Edward V.

While nobody got close enough to the boys to seriously spirit them out of the Tower, there were certainly various plans to do so.

By late July, the now crowned Richard III began a progress through England with his royal entourage. He'd left behind him people paid to guard the boys. It can be assumed that they were safe and sound, just hidden indoors, around this time.

The Duke of Buckingham had been one of Richard's closest friends and allies. He was included in the grand tour of the country. But in Gloucester, the two of them violently quarreled over some unknown cause.

By the time that Richard reached Warwick, on August 8th 1483, the Duke of Buckingham had left his company. He'd used a flimsy excuse to check on his lands in the Welsh Marches. Buckingham promptly raised one of the most serious rebellions of Richard's reign.

He did it initially in the name of Edward V, whom Buckingham sought to return to the throne. In short, whatever they argued about, Richard's closest friend believed the boy to still be alive in early August.

However, by the autumn, Buckingham's uprising swiftly changed gears. He suddenly and without ceremony ditched his bid to return Edward. Instead his allegiance went to Henry Tudor (a man with less claim to the throne than Buckingham himself). What had he heard (or done) to make him opt for the long shot?

Most damning of all, around the same time, Elizabeth Woodville also had a change of heart. She had begun negotiating with Margaret Beaufort, attempting to gain Tudor support for Edward V. The idea was to marry her daughter, Elizabeth of York, to Henry Tudor to secure the deal.

That plan ultimately did go ahead. The couple became the founders of the Tudor dynasty. But Elizabeth Woodville's motivation had also flipped in the autumn of 1483.  Now it wasn't allegiance for her son that she wanted, but her daughter on the throne.

She had some knowledge which assured her that her sons were dead. But she never once stated that it was murder. Unlike York refugees on the continent, or the later Tudor propaganda machine, such rumors didn't even appear that current in 1483.

It wasn't until January 1484 that anyone openly accused Richard III of killing, or ordering the murder, of his nephews. The York King merely kept silent, even while his reputation took a battering. It would have been so much easier for him to have produced them to prove that they were alive.

That he didn't is perhaps the strongest indication of all that they were not. 

The great Medieval mystery remains - if they were dead, then how did they die?  Unfortunately, it's a question that seems unlikely ever to be answered.