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Home / Historical Periods / Wars of the Roses / Princes in the Tower

Phase

Princes in the Tower

1483 CE

After Edward IV died in April 1483, his twelve-year-old son Edward V was lodged in the Tower of London while preparations were made for his coronation. His younger brother Richard joined him there. Their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became protector and then king after the boys were declared illegitimate.

The brothers disappeared from public view during the summer of 1483. No conclusive evidence establishes when they died, how they died or who was responsible. Richard III, Henry VII and other political actors have all been implicated in later accounts and historical argument.

The White Queen and The White Princess use the uncertainty around the missing princes as a dynastic and family crisis. Fiction can explore competing possibilities, but the absence of decisive evidence should remain clear.

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Books

5 Best Novels About the Princes in the Tower

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