The Mystery of the Princes in the Tower

     Throughout history there has been many speculations as to what happened to the princes in the tower. Although this is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in history, not many people are too familiar with this case. The English monarchy has always been at odds in terms of the succession of the English throne. In this case, we are traveling back to the reign of Edward IV. Edward IV belonged to the house of York, and with his wife Elizabeth Woodville, he had two sons, Edward V, and Richard of Shrewsbury. These two boys would go on to be known as the princes who were imprisoned in the tower of London. 

     After the death of Edward IV, his brother Richard (who will later be known as King Richard III) descended into London and assumed the throne. After this, Edward’s two young sons were locked up in the tower of London, never to be seen again. This is where the mystery itself starts to blossom because in reality, the princes only had two options for their fate. Many people seem to believe that Richard had them murdered to strengthen his claim to the throne, whereas others believe that he stripped them of all titles, spared their lives, and allowed them to live out their days in exile under aliases. 

     Both of these theories can be questioned, and argued, but the most sensible aspect to look at this from is, which theory is more plausible. Looking at this case from the perspective of presuming the princes were murdered, the only really solid motive for this is that it rids Richard of the true heirs to the crown, strengthening his claim to usurp his nephew’s rightful throne. You can argue this by thinking in a perspective that requisites there is no solid evidence that the princes were murdered and there is also no evidence that the princes weren’t able to escape and live in exile. Those two statements are the same exact point made from two opposing theories. 

     When defining my thesis that the princes were not murdered, the most enthralling thing that comes to mind is the fact that members of the royal family, both alive and recently deceased, have a deeper insight than most historians and academics as to what happened to Edward V and his little brother Richard. King Charles has been quoted to be supportive of further exploration into this mystery whereas his mother Queen Elizabeth II, contrasted this entirely. My question is, why? If the princes were in fact murdered hundreds of years ago, what bearing would that have on the monarchy today? An interesting theory I think could be entirely true is that maybe Queen Elizabeth was reluctant to divulge information about this case because the princes lives were in fact spared and they went on to have children (heirs), that would challenge the claim to the throne even to this day if there are any living descendants of the two princes. Say Edward IV died when his son Edward V was older, old enough to become king, would key historical events like the rise of Richard III and the War of the Roses even have happened? And if that’s the case, it would have affected the entire lineup of succession to the throne even to this day. 

     Contrasting this, Sir Thomas More and other important figures from this time have written accounts stating that the princes were murdered, but most of these were not written until after the fall of Richard III. With that being said many scholars who support the belief that the princes were not murdered, say that most of these accounts are simply Tudor propaganda post the War of the Roses and the defeat of Richard III by Henry Tudor (Henry VII). Another possible seed of Tudor propaganda is Shakespeare’s play Richard III. It portrays Richard as deceitful, manipulative, and bloodthirsty to be king. I can support this claim because Shakespeare actually pulled most of his inspiration for writing this play from the accounts of Sir Thomas More, which have no fact other than hearsay supporting them. As I mentioned previously, Sir Thomas More’s accounts of how Richard III was in terms of his traits and behaviors, and how he ordered the deaths of the princes in the tower, is highly speculated to be Tudor propaganda as well. He served Henry VIII (a Tudor monarch) as Lord High Chancellor of England from 1529 – 1532. This alone would mean any accounts of the Yorkist King Richard written by More, are unequivocally biased. 

     Another pivotal point that adds definition to my argument is the discovery of the prince’s bones. In 1674, two sets of skeletal remains were found under a staircase in the Tower of London. King Charles II proclaimed that these bones belonged to the princes in the tower and they were almost immediately laid to rest in an urn in Westminster Abbey. It seems very suspicious that the bones were identified with extreme haste in order to “close” a case that still to this day leaves the world pondering an answer. However, in 1933 the bones were exhumed for archaeological analysis. They did in fact find that the bones belonged to two children about the same age as the princes, but they couldn’t determine the sex based off of the remains. This in itself is a major hole in the theory that the princes were murdered. The older child’s bones (presumed to belong to Edward V) showed evidence of an aggressive disease that would leave one’s face incredibly deformed and the disease also has a high probability of leading to death. Not only do records of the prince’s physical features exhibit no claims of anything of this nature, but also Prince Edward V’s doctor has no record of the prince having any such disease. This fact alone is enough to determine that these bones have little to almost no probability of belonging to the princes in the tower.  

     There have been requests made to exhume the bones again for further DNA and carbon dating analyses, but the English monarchy has refused these requests. Of course anyone can’t help but to wonder why. What could these hundreds of years old bones tell us that could jeopardize anything of relevance to the crown? If the monarchy is hiding anything in regards to this case, it definitely is not the simple solution that these two young princes were murdered by a power hungry usurper, but possibly something that could divulge hundreds of years worth of secrets that would change the face of the English crown forever. I believe that all evidence leads to the well-shrouded secret being that the princes survived. 

References

The mystery of the princes in the tower. TheCollector. (2021, November 3).  https://www.thecollector.com/princes-in-the-tower-mystery/

More, T. (n.d.). The history of king richard the third – thomas more studies. https://thomasmorestudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Richard_III_English_glossed.pdf

Leslau, J. (1988, December). The princes in the Tower | Moreana. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/more.1988.25.2-3.7

Shakespeare, W. (1593). Richard III: Entire play. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardiii/full.html