In 1483, the young King Edward V and his brother Richard vanished from the Tower of London. Did they escape? Were they murdered? Kidnapped? And why are historians still arguing about what happened to the boys almost 800 years later? 

Who were the Princes?

Edward and Richard were born during the bloody and tumultuous Wars of the Roses. Their father Edward IV had won the crown after defeating the Lancasterian king Henry VI, and his sons were the beacons of hope for a new Yorkist dynasty after years of conflict. Unfortunately Edward IV died unexpectedly, and with his eldest son too young to inherit the throne, the boys' uncle stepped in as Lord Protector - a man who, depending on your point of view, is one of history's greatest villains...or one of history's most misunderstood figures. Enter...Richard III.

Lord "Protector"?!

Richard's first job as Lord Protector was to imprison the young King Edward in the Tower of London. A strange decision maybe - but Richard insisted it was for their own protection. Peace was precarious - their father's popularity had just about held the country together, but there were still those out there who believed the Yorkists had usurped the throne. And monarchs often stayed at the Tower to await their coronation. So Edward went willingly...but things quickly took a sinister turn...

Richard Steals the Throne

With Edward imprisoned in the Tower, things went from bad to worse for the Royal Family. Richard had the boys' maternal uncle, Earl Rivers, executed, and their mother and father's marriage declared illegitimate. Their mother, Elizabeth Woodville, sought sanctuary at Westminster Abbey, but that didn't stop Richard's soldiers forcing her to hand over her younger son, Richard. 

The Princes Vanish...

Now both boys were imprisoned in the Tower - and the coronation that had been planned for Edward, became the coronation of King Richard III instead.

The boys were spotted in the gardens of the Tower on 16th June 1483, playing together and shooting arrows. They were never seen alive again.

What Happened to the Princes?

Theory 1. The Princes Were Murdered

Removing the boys certainly removed a threat to Richard's rule. But Richard had already had the boys declared illegitimate. Would he really have had his own nephews murdered? Or did one of his loyal supporters take matters into their own hands to win favour with the new king?

The Tudors certainly believed this theory - prominent writers such as Sir Thomas More and William Shakespeare portrayed Richard as a ruthless villain who would stop at nothing to win the throne. The Tudors, however, had their own motives for painting Richard in a bad light - the first Tudor king had, after all, stolen the throne from Richard at the Battle of Bosworth. Some historians even suspect Henry VII's mother, Margaret Beaufort, of arranging the boys' assassination to pave the way for her son to claim the throne. Is Richard III's murderous reputation all down to Tudor propaganda? 

There's no firm evidence that Richard was suspected of the boys' disappearance in his lifetime. In fact after his coronation, Elizabeth Woodville and her remaining children came out of sanctuary and seemed to reconcile with Richard - does this prove that Richard was innocent? Or does it simply show what a vulnerable position their mother was in - and that she had no choice but to play happy families with her sons' murderer? 

Theory 2. The Princes Escaped

During the reign of Henry VII, two young men, Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, claimed to be the Princes - they said they had escaped from the Tower and hidden on the continent. Recent discoveries claim to back up this theory, including evidence that European royal courts supported Perkin Warbeck's claim (including his own aunt, Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy). However even if Perkin's supporters believed he was the young Prince Richard - that doesn't necessarily prove he was. Maybe Perkin was one of history's great conmen?

What is certain is that Perkin met a grisly end - executed for treason after a failed rebellion. Lambert Simnel, on the other hand, was pardoned and given a job in the palace kitchens - why was Perkin Warbeck treated more harshly? Did Henry feel threatened by him because he really was Prince Richard? Or was he just taking a zero tolerance approach to rebellion?

Will We Ever Know? 

In 1674, workmen at the Tower of London discovered two children’s skeletons wrapped in velvet, which only royalty could wear. Assumed to be the missing princes, the remains were interred at Westminster Abbey, where they remain to this day. Only the reigning monarch can give permission for the skeletons to be DNA tested - Queen Elizabeth II refused, but maybe one day we’ll finally know what happened to the Princes in the Tower. And as for Richard’s involvement – he took that secret to his (recently discovered) grave…

For more on Richard III and the Princes in the Tower, check out our Leicester Mystery Guide - The Mystery of King Richard's Secret Note!