English Monarch. The eldest son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, he was heir to the throne upon his father's sudden death in 1483, but was never crowned. Edward was only twelve, so his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed his protector and regent. Richard escorted the young king into London, but less than three months later, was crowned himself after Edward and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, and their sisters had been declared illegitimate by Parliament. The boys were housed in the royal apartments in the Tower of London, and disappeared from the historic record. Rumours and theories abound to this day as to the fate of the two boys, commonly referred to as The Princes in the Tower. Some say Richard had them murdered in order to gain the throne, while others say the usurper, Henry Tudor (Henry VII) had more reason to want them dead. In 1495, a young man called Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Edward, raising an upraising. He was later shown as a fraud, but there are some who still think otherwise. Partial skeletons of two young people were unearthed in the Tower in 1674, and many believe they are the remains of the boy king and his brother, but experts have never agreed on the age or even the sex of the remains. A translation of inscription on the ossuary: "Here lie interred the remains of Edward V King of England, and Richard, Duke of York, whose long desired and much sought after bones, after above an hundred and ninety years, were found by most certain tokens, deep interred under the rubbish of the stairs that led up to the Chapel of the White Tower, on the 17th of July in the year of our Lord 1674. Charles the second, a most merciful prince, having compassion upon their hard fortune, performed the funeral rites of these most unhappy princes among the tombs of their ancestors, anno domini 1678."
English Monarch. The eldest son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, he was heir to the throne upon his father's sudden death in 1483, but was never crowned. Edward was only twelve, so his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed his protector and regent. Richard escorted the young king into London, but less than three months later, was crowned himself after Edward and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, and their sisters had been declared illegitimate by Parliament. The boys were housed in the royal apartments in the Tower of London, and disappeared from the historic record. Rumours and theories abound to this day as to the fate of the two boys, commonly referred to as The Princes in the Tower. Some say Richard had them murdered in order to gain the throne, while others say the usurper, Henry Tudor (Henry VII) had more reason to want them dead. In 1495, a young man called Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Edward, raising an upraising. He was later shown as a fraud, but there are some who still think otherwise. Partial skeletons of two young people were unearthed in the Tower in 1674, and many believe they are the remains of the boy king and his brother, but experts have never agreed on the age or even the sex of the remains. A translation of inscription on the ossuary: "Here lie interred the remains of Edward V King of England, and Richard, Duke of York, whose long desired and much sought after bones, after above an hundred and ninety years, were found by most certain tokens, deep interred under the rubbish of the stairs that led up to the Chapel of the White Tower, on the 17th of July in the year of our Lord 1674. Charles the second, a most merciful prince, having compassion upon their hard fortune, performed the funeral rites of these most unhappy princes among the tombs of their ancestors, anno domini 1678."
Bio by: Kristen Conrad
