An entry in a 16th-century registry of wills in The National Archives may finally reveal what happened to the Princes in the Tower, a historian has said.
12-year-old King Edward V of England and his nine-year-old brother, Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, were imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1483 by their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, after the death of their father, King Edward IV.
Richard subsequently had the boys declared illegitimate and himself crowned King Richard III. The boys disappeared in around August 1483. Over the years there has been widespread speculation that they were murdered, either on the orders of Richard or another person, but their final fate is unknown.
Now, Professor Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield, has discovered new evidence that a treasured possession belonging to Edward V – his chain – later belonged to a member of the family of Sir James Tyrell.
Sir James was a loyal servant of Richard III, raising the question of how the chain ended up in his possession.
A registry copy of the 1516 will of Lady Margaret Capell, half-sister of Sir James Tyrell’s wife Anne, states: “I bequeath to my sonne Sir Giles his fadres Cheyne which was Yonge kynge Edward the Vth.”
Professor Thornton said: “The debate over Richard III’s responsibility for the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower will no doubt run and run, but we now have a unique reference to the survival of an object that was very personal to Edward V to add into the mix.
“It’s exciting to be able to shed further light on one of the most controversial and mysterious episodes in British history.”
To learn more about this extraordinary find and the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower, don’t miss the documentary Princes in the Tower: A Damning Discovery, which airs on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday 3 December 2024. It is presented by historian Tracy Borman and actor Jason Watkins.
