🇬🇧 United KingdomThe Princes in the Tower
The Story
Edward V, 12, and Richard of Shrewsbury, 9, were lodged in the Tower of London in 1483 by their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. They were never seen again after summer 1483. Richard took the throne as Richard III. Skeletons found in the Tower in 1674 were reburied as the princes, but identity remains unconfirmed.
Images
Timeline
Edward IV dies; his sons Edward V and Richard are brought to the Tower.
Richard III is crowned; the princes are not present.
Workmen find two child skeletons under a Tower staircase.
Known Evidence
How well-documented and physically verified the case evidence is.
- Contemporary chronicles by Dominic Mancini and Thomas More documenting the princes' imprisonment.
- Richard III's parliamentary titulus regius declaring the princes illegitimate.
- Two child skeletons found under a Tower staircase in 1674, reinterred at Westminster.
- 2012 mitochondrial DNA analysis of Richard III's remains enabling future bone testing.
Unresolved
What We Still Don't Know
- Whether Richard III ordered their deaths or they survived in secret.
- If the 1674 skeletons belong to the princes.
- Whether Henry VII or other factions eliminated them later.
Hypotheses
Theories
Ranked by plausibility — highest first.
Murder on Richard III's Orders
Richard eliminated the princes to secure his claim, as Tudor propagandists later claimed.
Survival and Hidden Identity
One or both princes were smuggled abroad; pretenders like Perkin Warbeck exploited this narrative.
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