Edward V

Edward V was the eldest surviving son of the Yorkist king Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. He had been born into tumultuous times, in the midst of the epic dynastic battle known as the Wars of the Roses. He was born at Westminster Abbey in November 1470 while his father was deposed and in brief exile on the Continent.

In 1471 Edward IV returned from exile and crushed his Lancastrian enemies, dethroning Henry VI and reclaiming his crown, making young Edward his heir, who was given the title ‘Prince of Wales’. His father sent him to live at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire with his mother to rule over Wales, which was where the Council of Wales met. The young prince spent most of his time at Ludlow learning how to be a ruler with the help of his uncle Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, until the death of his father.

Upon Edward IV’s death in April 1483, Edward became king of England aged 12 years old, but the young king would have the shortest reign of any English monarch, lasting only two months and seventeen days. His father had made arrangements to have his own younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester to serve as Edward’s protector by appointing him protector of the realm until young Edward was old enough to rule on his own.

The Woodville nobles, who were Edward’s family on his mother’s side, dominated the royal council and wanted Edward to be crowned immediately, which would avoid the protectorate under his uncle Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, and instead place more power in the hands of the Woodvilles.

As a result of the attempted power grab, tensions began to rise and Richard grew suspicious of the Woodville faction. A conflict between Richard and the Woodville nobles soon led the duke to arrest the Woodvilles. Arrangements were made for the new young king to meet with Richard so they could journey down to London together for Edward’s coronation on 24th June, but uncle Richard had more sinister ideas.

Edward’s uncle, Earl Rivers, and Richard Grey, an older half-brother to the uncrowned king, were taken north and executed by Richard in June at Pontefract Castle. Then, instead of arranging a coronation for his nephew, Richard decided to take the throne for himself. Edward and his younger brother, Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, who was aged just 9 years old, were both sent to live in the Tower of London and wait for Edward’s coronation, but the two royal boys were instead held in captivity, heavily guarded at the new royal lodgings at the Tower, and were never seen again.

Richard convinced Parliament that the two young princes were not the legal heirs to the throne, claiming that Edward IV’s marriage was invalid and his children illegitimate. After Edward IV had died, it was revealed that he had been engaged to a woman named Eleanor Butler, so Edward IV’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was seen as bigamy. Parliament accepted Richard’s claims, and on 26th June 1483 Edwards V’s brief reign came to an end and Richard was proclaimed King Richard III.

Soon afterwards, the two princes disappeared from the Tower, and what happened to them is still a mystery today. They have since become known as the ‘Princes in the Tower‘. It is most likely they were murdered by their uncle, Richard III. But it has also been suggested that they may have been murdered by Henry VII, who became king two years later.

In 1674, during building work at the Tower, a wooden chest was found under a staircase in the White Tower that contained the bones of two young boys. It has never been proved that these were the missing princes, but King Charles II stated that they were, and had the bones buried in Westminster Abbey. In 1933 the bones were looked at again by scientists who believed that they were the two princes.