To build your own Itinerary, click to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
Already saved an Itinerary?
You are here: UK History > Britain at War > The Wars of the Roses > The Princes in the Tower
The Princes in the Tower refers to the mysterious disappearance of Edward V and his younger brother Richard following their imprisonment in the Tower of London.
Edward V was king for 78 days following the death of his father, Edward IV before being deposed by his uncle Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, who went on to become Richard III.
Following his father’s death, the young Edward was just 12 and was living at Ludlow Castle. His uncle, Richard the Duke of Gloucester publicly pledged his allegiance to his nephew and was made Lord Protector of the new king. He collected Edward from the castle, along with one of Edward’s maternal uncles and older half brother, however on the way to London where the new king was to have his coronation, Richard had them all arrested. The boy’s uncle and...Read More
The Princes in the Tower refers to the mysterious disappearance of Edward V and his younger brother Richard following their imprisonment in the Tower of London.
Edward V was king for 78 days following the death of his father, Edward IV before being deposed by his uncle Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, who went on to become Richard III.
Following his father’s death, the young Edward was just 12 and was living at Ludlow Castle. His uncle, Richard the Duke of Gloucester publicly pledged his allegiance to his nephew and was made Lord Protector of the new king. He collected Edward from the castle, along with one of Edward’s maternal uncles and older half brother, however on the way to London where the new king was to have his coronation, Richard had them all arrested. The boy’s uncle and older brother were sent to Pontefract Castle where they were beheaded and Richard took Edward into his own custody
Following the news, Edward’s mother, Elizabeth Woodville, took her daughters and her remaining son, Richard to Westminster Abbey where they claimed sanctuary. Richard and Edward arrived in London and Edward was placed in the Tower of London, which at the time was a Royal residence as well as a prison, under the pretence of preparing for the coronation. A few months later, Richard brought his other nephew to the Tower too, having removed him from Westminster Abbey. At this point, the coronation was postponed with Richard claiming that because of a previous marriage contract, the wedding between Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV was invalid, making the children illegitimate. Richard declared himself the only rightful heir to the throne and was crowned in his nephew’s place as Richard III. The two princes were never seen in public again. There are no recorded sightings of either of them after the summer of 1483 and attempts to rescue them were thwarted. What happened to them remains a mystery but many believe that they were murdered.
There are several theories about what happened to the Princes in the Tower and who was behind their disappearance. There is no direct evidence that they were murdered but similarly, none to suggest otherwise.
Some historians claim that the pair were murdered by Richard III so he could clear a path to the throne, others claim that they died because of a plot constructed by Henry Tudor and his allies, so that there could be no alternatives for the throne once he defeated Richard.
To many, Richard III is the best suspect in the boy’s disappearance, especially after attempts were made to rescue them and reinstate Edward V, Richard never attempted to placate any rebellions by producing them or proving in any other way that they were alive and well. He also failed to be worried about their disappearance and didn’t open any investigation into where they had gone. However, it is unlikely that he murdered them in person as they were under guard but it is likely that he was aware of and behind a plan to eliminate them.
The case for Henry Tudor being the culprit is also a strong one, however, he had not yet arrived in England when the boys went missing and would not have had an opportunity to murder them until he himself was king, which would mean that the princes were alive despite not being seen or heard from since their incarceration. It is important to note that Elizabeth Woodville, the boys’ mother was involved in the plot to bring Henry to England and allowed the marriage between him and her daughter. As a strong woman who fiercely loved her children, it is unlikely she would have allowed this to happen or supported the wedding had she believed Henry was behind her sons’ disappearance.
Other suspects include Henry VII’s mother Margaret Beaufort, Edward IV’s mistress and the Duke of Norfolk, however, none of these could have had access to the Tower without either Richard III or Henry VII knowing about it.
During Henry VII’s reign there were two instances of people claiming to be either Edward V, his brother Richard, or their cousin, another Prince Edward, who was also in the Tower, which made many believe that they didn’t both die in the Tower and that one, or both of them, were smuggled out of the country.
Perkin Warbeck was one such pretender who claimed to be the young Prince Richard. He claimed that he had escaped the Tower but his story often changed depending on who he was talking to. For some time, he posed a legitimate threat to Henry VII’s reign, landing in England several times from the continent with armies, Pro-Yorkists did support him for a time and he was well received by the King of Scotland, however he was captured and interrogated by Henry VII and eventually confessed to being an imposter. Henry allowed him to become a part of the royal court, though he was kept under guard. After 8 months at court, he ran away and was eventually executed at Tyburn in London. He was buried in an unmarked grave at Austin Friars.
It has been said that Warbeck did resemble Edward IV, so though there was no proof that he was Richard, he could have been an illegitimate son of either Edward IV or Richard III. However, his subsequent confessions of being an imposter make many believe that he was put up to the pretence by Yorkist sympathisers.
In 1675, workmen renovating the Tower of London dug up a wooden box containing two small skeletons under the staircase leading to the chapel of the White Tower. These were among several remains of children that had been found at the Tower, and it is uncertain if any of the remains, including those in the box, were the princes.
King Charles II ordered that the bones be placed in an urn and interred at Westminster Abbey. Christopher Wren designed the monument that marks the resting place which features Edward and Richard’s names. The bones were later exhumed and examined in 1933 and were discovered to belong to children around the correct ages for the princes, however, they had been buried with animal bones and other rubbish and they could not make complete skeletons out of the remains that they had. No further examination has been carried out and they were returned to Westminster Abbey.
Another set of remains were discovered in 1789 at St George’s Chapel in Windsor when workmen rediscovered the vault of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. The vault had a small adjoining room which contained the coffins of two children. The coffins were labelled as belonging to George and Mary, two of their children who had died young, however, there are other coffins elsewhere in the vault that are also marked with their names. The tomb was resealed and no further investigation was done.
When Richard III’s remains were discovered, there was renewed interest in learning more about the mysterious coffins but the current royal family refused to grant approval to exhume and test them.
Read Less© Visit Heritage 2025. All Rights Reserved
We are now retrieving your search results. Please wait, this may take up to 30 seconds
Supporting the Destination
Quality Guarantee
We are now retrieving real time availability results. Please wait, this may take up to 30 seconds.