The Tower of London exterior – The ancient fortress that has stood witness to centuries of power, politics, and bloodshed.
The Tower of London stands as one of Britain’s most enduring landmarks, steeped in centuries of power, politics, and bloodshed. The grey walls have witnessed the rise and fall of monarchs, the intrigues of court life, and the struggles for the English crown.
For all the pageantry and ceremony, the Tower is perhaps most famous for the darker side of the monument's history — the shadows of betrayal, confinement, and death that cling to every damp stone.
Among the most haunting of these tales is the disappearance of two young brothers, Edward V and his younger sibling, Richard, Duke of York. Together they became known — and ever since remembered — as the Princes in the Tower.
The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower
by John Everett Millais
Edward IV, their father, reigned for twenty-two years. He was the son of Richard, Duke of York, who had been the Lord Protector of England twice, during the King’s debilitation. Cecily Neville had been his wife, and the Neville family was one of the most noble in the land.
The young Edward seized the throne in 1461 after years of bitter civil war. Edward had two surviving brothers: George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. George was reckless and disloyal, and in the end he was convicted of treason and put to death in 1478.
Legend tells that his final wish was to be drowned in a butt of his most favoured wine, Malmsey, and it is understood that Richard was at hand to see this request carried out. Richard, by contrast, proved a steadfast and capable soldier, often entrusted with the hardest tasks of the reign, and his loyalty to Edward never wavered.
Edward IV was tall, strikingly handsome, and charismatic, but his fondness for mistresses was well known. In 1464, he secretly wed Elizabeth Woodville, a widowed commoner with golden hair and eyes said to be as clear as spring water.
The marriage upended expectations at court and angered the Earl of Warwick, who had been seeking a diplomatic union for the King. Elizabeth had approached the young King Edward to plead for the lands of her late husband, Sir John Grey. Instead, she won his heart, and their marriage shocked the nobility — not least Richard Neville, the powerful Earl of Warwick, who had long expected Edward to marry a European princess. Warwick, who became known as the Kingmaker, never forgave the slight, and it marked the beginning of growing tensions within the Yorkist court.
By the time of Edward IV’s death in April 1483, the King and Queen Elizabeth Woodville had seven surviving children. Their eldest son, Edward, was just twelve years old and had been raised at Ludlow Castle as heir apparent. After Edward IV’s sudden death, the boy was brought to London to prepare for his coronation. As was customary, he was lodged in the royal apartments of the Tower of London. Because the young Prince Edward felt isolated, his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, whom he had never met, was later brought to join him.
Queen Elizabeth Woodville, suspicious of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who had been named Lord Protector, sought sanctuary at Westminster Abbey with her remaining children. Richard and many nobles debated that allowing the Woodville family to dominate the young King would be disastrous. Later, in a privy council meeting, it was discovered that Edward, the dead King, had in front of the Bishop of Bath and Wells in his youth made a pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler.
It had also been alleged that Lady Butler was sent away to give birth to a child. This complicated who was the real heir.
Therefore, Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth was invalid. By this reasoning, their children were illegitimate, and Edward V could not be King. Civil war loomed. To avoid chaos, the realm’s leading men urged Richard to take the crown himself.
Richard, after all, was a son of Richard of York and was a man with both experience and a well-respected soldier.
The two boys remained within the Tower, but sightings of them grew rarer as the summer of 1483 passed. Eventually, they disappeared from view altogether. Rumours flew on the late summer wind that they had been murdered, perhaps at Richard III’s command, though no definitive proof ever emerged.
They had vanished.
Two centuries later, in 1674, workmen demolishing a staircase in the White Tower uncovered a wooden chest containing two small sets of bones, thought to be children. Some fine fabric was in the box, indicating the children were from a wealthy family.
Charles II, the then English King, announced that they must be the lost York princes and ordered them placed in a white marble urn, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and interred with honour in Westminster Abbey’s Henry VII Chapel, in the corner of the Innocents. Yet they were not complete skeletons, and their identity has never been proven.
The white marble urn in Westminster Abbey –, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, believed to hold the remains of the Princes in the Tower.
In 1933, the bones were studied by an anatomist who suggested that they might indeed be the remains of the two princes and were suspected to be of male origin and seemed to be of a correct age to match the two lost York princes.[1]
Modern science offers a chance to resolve the mystery. DNA testing could confirm whether the bones belong to the lost princes, but Queen Elizabeth II consistently opposed disturbing royal burials, mainly due to her firm Christian beliefs. For now, the marble urn remains sealed, a silent sentinel over centuries of speculation.
In recent years, new research has added to the debate. In 2024, Professor Tim Thornton uncovered a will indicating that Edward V’s chain of office ended up in the estate of Lady Margaret Capell, a relative of Sir James Tyrell, who was implicated in the princes’ alleged murder.
Thornton also highlighted links between Sir Thomas More’s famous account and his father, John More, a lawyer of great repute, who personally knew two of the supposed assassins.[2] These discoveries have strengthened the case for reconsidering the mystery.
As Westminster Abbey is a royal peculiar, only the reigning monarch can authorise such testing.[3] Should King Charles III give his consent, modern forensic methods could reveal the truth at last. If confirmed as Edward and Richard, the boys could be reinterred beside their parents — Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville — in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. At last, the lost princes would come home, reunited with their family in peace.
And how poignant it would be that King Charles II gave them secret rest in Westminster Abbey if then King Charles III could see them rightly home.
Support our petition for DNA testing and for giving the boys a Christian burial:
www.murderinthetower.london
Thank you
Gemma Morris-Conway
References
1. Tanner, Lawrence E., and Wright, William. *Report on the Investigation of the Remains in the Urn in Westminster Abbey.* Archaeologia, 1935.
2. Thornton, Tim. *The Political Thought and Influence of Sir Thomas More: New Research Findings.* University of Huddersfield, 2024.
3. Westminster Abbey official guidance: As a royal peculiar, the decision for any testing or disturbance rests solely with the reigning monarch.
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About the Author
Gemma Morris-Conway is a British historical writer and campaigner focused on late-medieval and Tudor history. She leads the Murder in the Tower initiative to secure DNA testing of the remains believed to be those of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, with the aim of a Christian reinterment alongside their parents. More information and petition details are available at
www.murderinthetower.london
