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One of the most disgusting double murders at the hands of British royalty befell the young princes Edward and Richard who were imprisoned and eventually stabbed to death by order of King Richard III in 1483. Chris Everard, Illuminati III
The disappearance of the two sons of Edward IV, successors to his throne, is the most infamous unsolved mystery in British royal history. Since his death, King Richard III has been accused of their murders and vilified by the monarchs who succeeded him. Even William Shakespeare immortalises Richard as a deformed usurper seizing the Crown of England amidst an ocean of blood included that of his nephews. But modern historians confess that this portrayal is riddled with inaccuracies. Mystery Files: Princes in the Tower
Published accounts accusing Richard don’t start to appear until about fifty years after his death. Sir Thomas More, a statesman and lawyer, formulates the charge in his book History of King Richard III. ibid.
There are other possible culprits. The first man worthy of close scrutiny is the Duke of Buckingham … ibid.
Once Richard has taken the throne, in a strictly legal sense the Princes in the Tower are no longer a threat to him, because as bastards they have become irrelevant to the succession. Dr Michael K Jones, author Bosworth 1485 Psychology of a Battle
What I’ve got here is an annals written by we think a London merchant, a London citizen ... Under 1482-3 which it says: ‘This year King Edward IV’s sons were put to death in the Tower of London by the vice of the Duke of Buckingham’. Peter O’Donoghue, The Royal College of Arms
The theory of Buckingham’s guilt would be he kills the princes, blames it on Richard, to destroy Richard for being a murderer: I think that’s a very realistic possibility given Buckingham’s neurotic unstable character. Bert Fields, author Royal Blood – King Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes
More than five hundred years ago two princes vanished. The summer of 1483 the heir to the throne Edward and his younger brother Richard Duke of York were spotted playing outside the Tower of London. They were never seen again. It’s the greatest murder mystery in British history. Richard III: The Princes in the Tower, BBC 2015
He seized the throne from Edward and made himself Richard III. But was Richard guilty? No smoking gun has been found. ibid.
The first man to comprehensively pin on the murders on Richard was the Tutor historian Thomas More. ibid.
More and Shakespeare portrayed Richard as a ruthless, power hungry villain. But critics of Thomas More believe he created a deliberately distorted caricature. ibid.
Prince Edward was the focus of a deadly power struggle. ibid.
Buckingham is a convincing alternative suspect. ibid.
Three great power blocks: Richard, the Woodvilles, and Hastings eyed each other nervously. ibid.
Hastings was executed without trial just like Thomas More said. ibid.
What if the princes weren't murdered at all? ibid.
1471: A new England is being forged in the fire of civil war. Philippa Gregory, The Real White Queen and Her Rivals II, BBC 2013
They are the founders of our nation just as much as their more-famous men. ibid.
‘She [Margaret] plays the game of divided loyalties very effectively: she’s protected by her Yorkish husbands and is at the same time covertly working for her Lancastrian son. But King Edward’s victory was a disaster for her. Forcing her son Henry Tudor to flee into exile in France.’ ibid. Lisa Hilton
The York dynasty had an extraordinary capacity for self- destruction. And its downfall would begin with Anne Neville. ibid.
It looks as though Elizabeth had no option but to release her child into the hands of her enemies … I think she handed over a servant boy muffled up in a scarf. ibid.
The two boys in the tower were never seen again. ibid.
July 6th 1483 in Westminster Abbey Richard had himself crowned king of England. At his side his wife Anne. Queen at last. ibid.
They were all using each other. ibid.
If Richard didn’t kill them, then who did? The other person with a clear motive was Elizabeth Beaufort. ibid.
The rumours were truly scandalous: that Richard was courting his niece the princess under the very nose of his wife. ibid.
Elizabeth Woodville gave her daughter in marriage to the family that may have killed her sons. ibid.
It was Margaret Beaufort who shaped the Tudor dynasty. ibid.
In late summer of 1483 guards at the Tower of London recount seeing two small boys, heirs to England’s throne, playing bows and arrows together in front of their royal residence. It is the last official word of their existence. In Search of History s3e12: The Missing Princes of England
1674: Workmen charged with the demolition of an ancient staircase in the centuries-old Tower of London uncover what appear to be the skeletons of two children. ibid.
The most infamous story in the entire blood-soaked era happens twenty years after the Wars of the Roses begin – the slaying of two innocent young boys – the Princes in the Tower. Dan Jones, Britain’s Bloody Crown III: The Princes Must Die, Channel 5 2017
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plans to become Protector of England and take control of the young King, Edward V. He claimed he wanted to work with the King’s guardian, Earl Rivers. Instead, Richard arrests Rivers for treason. ibid.
With his main opponents dead or neutralised the throne is Richard’s for the taking. ibid.
Henry VI is back on the throne of England. It’s not going well. In March 1471 Edward IV lands in Yorkshire claiming that he only wants his Dukedom returned. ibid.
Henry died … Edward has had him killed. ibid.
Summer, 1483 the Tower of London: Two young boys are about to become victims of one the greatest unsolved crimes of British history. King Edward IV is dead. His 12 year old is about to be crowned but instead, the story goes, he and his younger brother are murdered in their beds. Princes in the Tower: Lucy Worsley Investigates, BBC 2022
The Woodvilles win the argument. The Royal Council decides that Richard should not be the young king’s sole protector. They agree to crown Edward within a fortnight on 4th May, a symbolic step that would further diminish Richard’s power. ibid.
All that we can say about the Princes is that they are missing. ibid.