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You are here: UK History > Royal History > House of York > Edward V | The Prince in the Tower
The second Yorkist King, Edward V, had the shortest reign of any English king lasting only 2 months and seventeen days. He came to the throne aged 12 and by his 14th birthday had disappeared completely, believed to have been murdered by his uncle.
Born: 2nd November 1470
Died: Unknown, thought to have been the summer of 1483
Reign: 9th April 1483 – 25th June 1483
Parents: Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville
Predecessor: Edward IV (father)
Successor: Richard III (uncle)
Spouse: none
Children: none
Royal House: Plantagenet, York branch
Edward V was the oldest son of Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville. He was one of 12 children, having two half brothers from his mother’s first marriage and nine full siblings. At least three of his siblings died in childhood or infancy and he was survived by his half brothers and his five sisters. He was born on 2nd November 1470 at the house of the Abbot of Westminster, which adjoined the abbey. His mother and older siblings had taken sanctuary at the abbey after his father, Edward IV was deposed following a battle with the Lancastrians and exiled to Flanders. The throne was reclaimed by Henry VI, who despite the continuing threat of his Yorkist relatives, Henry refused to imprison or execute Elizabeth Woodville or any of her children. Edward IV returned to England in 1471 and reclaimed the crown following the death of Henry’s only son. Henry was once again imprisoned in the Tower of London where he died and Edward IV continued his reign until his own sudden death.
Image: Edward V
On his return to England, Edward IV immediately named his son Edward, who was just 7 months old, Prince of Wales. Three years later, young Edward was given his own household at Ludlow Castle, where he was to rule Wales and the Welsh Marches. As he was just a child, the household was mostly supervised by his mother’s brother, Anthony Woodville and young Edward spent a lot of time in the company of his mother and siblings. As heir apparent, Edward was in need of an advantageous betrothal and his father secured a marriage in name to the daughter of the Duke of Brittany. The plan being for their oldest son to inherit England and their second son to inherit Brittany. Unfortunately for young Edward, this marriage, like much of his reign didn’t come to pass.
Edward IV died suddenly in April 1483 when young Edward was just 12 years old. In his will, the late King named his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector, effectively allowing him to rule on behalf of Edward V until he was old enough to do so himself. A royal council was appointed to advise and govern for young Edward, which was mostly made up of members of his mother’s family. They were keen for Edward to be coronated immediately to avoid the need for a protectorate and to eliminate the issues faced by other young kings who came to the throne before coming of age. Historians also claim that they wanted to avoid giving the Duke of Gloucester too much power, instead wanting to rule on Edward’s behalf. As this would have given the power instead to the Woodvilles who were only considered nobility because of the Dowager Queen and had Lancastrian connections, (Elizabeth Woodville, young Edward’s mother, had been married to a Lancastrian who had died in battle with York forces and had two sons, prior to marrying Edward IV), the Duke of Gloucester wanted to avoid this at all costs. He continued to postpone the date of the coronation, likely because of his own agenda, and as such, Edward was never crowned.
Following the death of Edward IV, young Edward was named Edward V and was prepared for travel from Ludlow Castle to London for his coronation. The Duke of Gloucester pledged his loyalty to his nephew and so Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey, Edward’s older half brother, were happy for the Duke to meet them and accompany them to London. However, at the start of the journey, Richard the Duke of Gloucester had both Grey and Woodville arrested, seizing their lands and imprisoning them at Pontefract Castle, where they were both executed. Edward protested but was unable to reverse the order. Richard then had the rest of the travelling party dismissed and accompanied the young king to London on his own. On hearing the news, Elizabeth Woodville and her remaining children returned to Westminster Abbey, once again claiming sanctuary. Historians say that she began plans to have Edward released into her care but was unable to do so.
Richard installed Edward in the Tower of London, which, as well as being a prison, was for a time, a royal residence. Many royals spent time there while awaiting their coronation, so it wasn’t unusual for a new monarch to set up home at the royal apartments. After securing the young King, Richard took custody of his other nephew, prince Richard, who was the new Duke of York and the Heir Apparent. The prince joined his brother at the Tower, with Richard claiming that he was simply ensuring the boy’s attendance at the coronation and later claiming that he was keeping the boys under heavy guard there for their own protection. The pair became known as the Princes in the Tower and their lives have become shrouded in mystery. What we do know is that while Edward V was in the tower awaiting his coronation, his uncle Richard had dismissed and executed a number of powerful individuals who had been loyal to Edward IV and as such, would support Edward V. He moved into royal apartments and began working with allies to question the legitimacy of Edward’s claim to the throne. Historians have noted that Richard’s older siblings didn’t resemble their father, whereas he did. This on top of the claim from various people that Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid caused support to sway towards Richard as the true heir to the crown.
Edward was eventually deposed on 26th June, just two months after being named king. His uncle was crowned and became Richard III, shortly afterwards the two princes that had been locked in the tower disappeared, with general consensus being that the pair were murdered, most likely by their uncle Richard. This could be one of the reasons why the Garden Tower where they were lodged became known as the Bloody Tower – a name that it keeps to this day. There are a number of theories as to what happened to Edward V and prince Richard. Though it is widely believed that the pair were murdered, there were also reports that the young king was suffering from ill health and could have succumbed to an illness. The last recorded sighting of Edward alive was by the royal physician, Dr Argentine, who noted that the king was in a state of melancholy. Other theories say that at least one of the boys escaped and was smuggled to the continent, but this is widely debated.
In 1674, workmen remodelling the staircase in the Garden Tower uncovered two small skeletons, which were believed to be those of the missing princes. The king at the time, Charles II ordered that they be interred at Westminster Abbey and were done so under the names Edward and Richard. In the 1930s, the bones were exhumed and re-examined when it was discovered that the skeletons were incomplete. The remains were examined and determined to be from two young people, likely aged between 15 and 9, the age bracket that the boys were when they disappeared. They were reburied and have not been examined further. While there is no definitive proof that the skeletons are those of the princes, it is unlikely that either left the tower alive.
A similarly strange incident took place at Windsor Castle when workmen were repairing St George’s Chapel, the final resting place of several English monarchs. They accidentally entered the vault containing the remains of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, who had been buried together. Adjoining their vault was another containing two child sized coffins. It was believed that these were the bodies of George and Mary, two of their ten children that had predeceased them, however, a further vault baring their names was found elsewhere in the chapel. The two children in the coffins remain unidentified, but historians do not believe them to be the two princes.
When it comes to theories, the most popular is that Richard III had the boys killed on his orders to prevent them reclaiming the throne, however the Duke of Buckingham and Henry Tudor, who would usurp Richard III, also stood to gain from their deaths. Henry Tudor was the remaining Lancastrian claimant to the throne and the Duke of Buckingham had royal blood and was in the line of succession. Historians have pointed out that Elizabeth Woodville would not have surrendered her daughters to Richard’s care if she knew he had murdered the princes. He had after all, already had her oldest son executed. However, she did marry her oldest daughter to Henry Tudor and yet continued to plot against him during his reign, endangering her daughter’s life. It is noted that she and Henry Tudor had a difficult relationship which resulted in him seizing her lands and removing her to a nunnery. Some theories suggest that this was because she knew that Henry Tudor had planned the murders of the princes and he didn’t want the truth to come out, while others claim that she continued to rebel against his rule because she knew at least one of her sons was still alive. Though there were a number of individuals claiming to be one of the princes who threatened the throne under Henry Tudor, historians tend not to take these claims seriously. One claimant, known as Perkin Warbeck, claimed to be the lost Prince Richard. The story said that he had been smuggled out of the Tower and onto the continent where he was hidden by his aunt, the Duchess of Burgundy. Perkin Warbeck eventually confessed to being a pretender and was executed, but to this day no one really knows what happened to Edward V and his younger brother.
Richard III and his wife Anne were coronated in 1483, ruling for two years. He was the last York king to have the English throne.
Westminster Abbey, London
Tower of London, London
Ludlow Castle, Wales
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