The Princes in the Tower

Edward IV died at age 40 on April 9th 1483, leaving two sons, Edward V of England (age 12) and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York (age 9). His eldest son was to be King of England, with his brother, Richard III, being the Lord Protector of the Realm until his son reached the age of 18. However, the events that followed in 1483 led to the death of the two boys, and even though there is no definite proof of who killed the boys, Richard III is believed to be responsible for their deaths.

The two boys were seen for the last time playing outside the Tower of London in the summer of 1483, when they were kept in the inner apartments of the Tower (which was still used as royal residence at that time). Many historians believe that Richard III was the one who ordered their death, in an attempt to consolidate his power. Although Richard tried to suppress the power of the family from the boys’ mother (Elizabeth Woodville), even executing one of her family members, there is no absolute evidence that he ordered the death of the boys. To Richard’s favor, the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville was declared illegitimate by Parliament in 1483, meaning that the boys were no longer heirs to the throne, allowing Richard to become King of England without having to kill them.

Thomas More wrote History of King Richard III around 1513 (during Henry VIII’s reign), blaming Richard for the princes’ death. The book served as the base for William Shakespeare play’s Richard III. The negative image most people tend have of Richard is based on the works of More and Shakespeare, and the two authors were supporters of the Tudor dynasty (who were enemies of Yorkists like Richard) that reigned after Richard. Therefore, historians nowadays believe the image of Richard portrayed in those works is exaggerated. 

But if Richard III didn’t kill the princes, who did? Some theories suggest that Henry Tudor (who later became Henry VII of England) ordered the murder of the boys, thus clearing his way to the throne. Others believe that Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham is responsible for their death. Stafford would have done it after switching sides from supporting Richard to supporting Henry Tudor. There is also the theory that Edward would have died from an illness, since he was constantly visited by his doctor.

Nevertheless, the death of the princes did not allow Richard to be king for long. On August 22nd 1485, Henry Tudor defeated and killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, thus becoming Henry VII, the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. In order to strengthen his claim to the throne, Henry made the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville legitimate once again and married their daughter, Elizabeth of York. This united the Houses of York and Lancaster (his House), and ended the war between the two Houses, the War of the Roses.