The imprisonment of the Princes in the Tower.

Their ‘mystery’.

Imprisonment. Richard III had declared himself king as a result of the death of his brother Edward IV, leaving his children to, Richard as Lord protector, later to have done the opposite.

Edward V and his brother Richard duke of york were wrongly imprisoned in the Tower of London at the ages twelve and nine as a means of protection according to their protector Richard III. At this time it was the begining of war, a war that would go on to determine the king of England, whos family would reign for decades after. The war of the Roses. This is what he was ‘protecting’ them from shortly after declaring himself as king which, it is evident that this was not the true reason, that is was more for his benefit as king strengthening his position by declaring the heirs illegitimate.

Although I refer to the princes as being imprisoned i want to bring to your attention that their impriosnment is not what you would imagine imprisonment to be. The princes had free reign in the tower the only condition was, is that they could not leave. The princes were often seen behind the windows and bars of the tower, however that came to a stop when they began appearing less and less behind the bars of the windows suggesting that Richard had moved the brothers from the garden to the white tower according to the Italian chronicler Dominic Mancini. It is important to mention that the white tower was the home to royal captives awaiting their trial, meaning this was not a good sign for the boys.

However, the boys were seen “shooting and playing in the garden of the tower sundry times’ writes the great chronicle on the 16th of June as being their last appearance. It is thought that during the autum of 1483 the princes were discreetly murdered. Who was responsible is still an on going question today, whether it be at the hands of Richard himself or at the hands of his orders.

Richard had everything to loose such as being king so it would make sense to rid himself of his obstacles, that being the princes as Edward V still had a withstanding claim to the throne should anything happen to Richard. However it is his high stakes that would also prevent him from murdering the princes himself, as if it were to be discovered that it was Richard who had murdered them he would be executed, making him no longer king. This makes it possible that it was his orders that murdered the boys as this would not directly point the finger at Richard should he ever be found out. Now during this time it was not known what had happened to the brothers, public knowledge was that they were no longer to be seen in the windows of the tower anymore making this simply just a suspicion and a mystery.

Further down the line this was not the case. Under the orders of King Charles II in 1674 to have what remained of the royal palace to the south of the white tower removed, it was the stair case foundations to St Johns chapel that would reveal the horror. Three meters down below the ground, is where a chest containing two child skeletons were found, whose height matched the ages of the two Princes in the Tower. “This day i … saw working men dig out of the stairway in the White Tower the bones of those two princes who were foully murdered by Richard III.” The same eye witness described “ pieces of rag and velvet” adheard to the bones. The latter material was the exclusive preserve of nobility and more importantly royalty. The cloth that had adhered to the bones clearly showed that the skeletons were in-fact royal, indicating that they were sadly the princes in the tower.

For the next four years after the discovery the bones were displayed as a tourist attraction before Charles II had ordered for their reburial in West minster Abbey. It was only in 1933 that a breif re examination of the bones took place revealing compelling evidence that they were, the two princes in the tower. The Princes still remain in Westminster Abbey today.

However King Charles III is said be interested in solving the mystery of the Princes in the Tower once and for all. This could be the end to the 500 year investigation.

Was it Richard who murdered the princes or were they even murdered at all ??

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