What really happened to Edward V and his brother, Richard, Duke of York?
Edward V (4 November 1470 – 1483?) was an English monarch, although never crowned.
Edward the fifth and Richard, Duke of York were the offspring of King Edward IV of England. Edward V was born on November 4, 1470 in the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey. It was a tumultuous time in England’s history. King Edward IV, a Yorkist was out of power and the Lancastrians were in control. But, a year later, Edward IV regained his hold on the throne. In June of 1471, Edward the father made his eldest living son Prince of Wales.
The king died when Edward V was only twelve. The boy inherited the throne on April 9, 1483. His uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester was given the role of “protector” for Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. Uncle Richard intercepted the new king’s entourage while it was on its way out of Wales. He escorted the boys to London where, less than three month later, he took the throne for himself. On June 25, Parliament declared both boys illegitimate. A priest (believed to be the Bishop of Bath and Wells) had presented evidence that Edward IV was contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler before he married Elizabeth Woodville. This would have made his marriage to Elizabeth invalid. This move left Richard, Duke of Gloucester next in line for the throne.
The two boys ended up in the Tower of London, never to be seen in public again. This is where speculation begins. Were they murdered as it is generally believed? A few men have been put up as suspects: their uncle, King Richard, Duke of Gloucester; Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham; and Henry Tudor, who defeated Richard and took the throne as Henry VII.
After the princes' disappearance, there was much uncertainty as to their fate. If they were killed, the secret was well kept; conversely, there was no evidence of their survival or of their having been shipped out of the country. When a pretender, Perkin Warbeck, turned up claiming to be Prince Richard, in 1495, William Stanley (younger brother of King Henry's stepfather, Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby), who, despite his Yorkist sympathies, had turned against Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field and helped King Henry win it, said that, if the young man was really the prince, he would not fight against him, thus demonstrating that some Yorkists had not given up hope of the princes being still alive.
(From wikipedia.org)
