The Mystery of the Princes in the Tower
About this episode
This episode explores the mysterious disappearance of the Princes in the Tower and the theories surrounding their fate.
In 1483, 12-year-old King Edward V and his nine-year-old brother, Richard, Duke of York, were placed in the Tower of London by their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, while Edward awaited his coronation. Instead, Richard took the crown as Richard III and the boys vanished from public view that summer, never to be seen alive again. Most historians believe the princes were murdered, with Richard III long considered the likeliest person to have ordered it because their deaths removed the strongest rivals to his throne. But there is no conclusive contemporary proof, and competing theories remain. In 1674, workmen found two child skeletons beneath a staircase in the Tower; they were later buried in Westminster Abbey as the princes’ presumed remains. Yet they have never been conclusively identified using modern forensic testing, so one of England’s most haunting royal mysteries remains unsolved.
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