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The Tale Of The Princes In The Tower

On April 9th, 1483, King Edward IV of England died, passing the throne to one of his two sons, soon-to-be King Edward V. At the time of their father's death, Edward and Richard (Edward IV's second son) were just 12 (Edward V) and 9 (Richard, Prince of Wales). However, the former King Edward IV's brother, now known as Richard III, seized the throne from the 12-year-old Edward by making excuses such as delaying the coronation, executing Edward V's maternal uncle, etc.

Suddenly, Richard III ordered both the boys (Edward V and Richard, Prince of Wales) to the Tower of London, which was considered quite normal at the time as many future kings awaited their coronations there. But as to why Richard, Prince of Wales, was there remains a mystery. The siblings could be seen by the people outside in the gardens playing together and laughing for a short period of time. Every day the boys seemed to appear less and less, from outside in the gardens to looking out the windows, to no trace of them at all. Most people believe that Richard III sent someone to murder the boys, whereas some believe the boys suffered some kind of illness and died because of it.

Shortly after the boys were ordered to the Tower of London by their uncle, Richard III began by claiming his right to the throne and putting down Edward V's and Richard, Prince of Wales's right to the throne by stating that his late brother, Edward IV, had signed a pre-contract to marry another woman before marrying Edward V and Richard, Prince of Wales's mother, Elizabeth Woodville Grey. Under the medieval canon law, this would make the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville bigamous and invalid, making Edward V, Richard, Prince of Wales, and the other five daughters they had, bastards (meaning that the children were not fit to claim the throne). After justifying this, Richard III took the throne and the princes were never seen again. Well, at least not the real boys.

In 1485, Henry VII killed Richard III in battle, making him the King of England, and during his reign, many young boys came before Henry VII and his wife (one of the daughters of Edward IV) and claimed to be Richard, Prince of Wales. A rather famous example of this was Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Richard, Prince of Wales. He said that his older brother had been murdered and he had been smuggled to Europe. This was false (at least according to the Tudor government) and poor Perkin was hanged. But in 1674, everything changed when two skeletons were found under the Tower of London's stairs and were proven to be 8-to-12-year-olds' bones. Further DNA testing has been refused by current King Charles III, but many still believe they are the real princes.