Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: In the BBC's History magazine, History Extra ran a poll
Speaker 1: online asking readers to vote for their favorite historical mystery.
Speaker 1: There were twenty choices, ranging from the purpose of Stonehenge
Speaker 1: to the translation of the Voytage manuscript to the final
Speaker 1: resting place of Jesus Christ's body. With twenty choices, they
Speaker 1: probably anticipated that it was going to be a close race,
Speaker 1: one where perhaps a few front runners emerged. One of
Speaker 1: the mysteries wiped the floor with the other choices. More
Speaker 1: than one in three readers voted for the Exact Say mystery,
Speaker 1: which ended up at a final percentage more than double
Speaker 1: the votes of the mystery that came in second place.
Speaker 1: The first place winner for the History Extra poll. The
Speaker 1: historical mystery that captivated and compelled readers beyond wanting to
Speaker 1: know what happened to the actual Jesus Christ. Was this
Speaker 1: what happened to the Princes in the Tower. In fourteen
Speaker 1: eighty three, two boys, the sons and heirs of the
Speaker 1: late King Edward the Fourth, were put into the Tower
Speaker 1: of London, ostensibly to prepare and keep safe before the
Speaker 1: older boy, King Edward the Fifth coronation. But while they
Speaker 1: were safely behind the walls of the castle fortress, their
Speaker 1: uncle and the regent, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, announced that
Speaker 1: new information had emerged that the boys were actually legitimate.
Speaker 1: That summer, the man coronated was actually Richard himself, who
Speaker 1: became King Richard the Third. He reigned briefly until Henry
Speaker 1: Tudor bested him in battle and claimed the throne, beginning
Speaker 1: the Tudor dynasty and more or less ending the civil
Speaker 1: war that had raged for decades over the English throne
Speaker 1: known as the War of the Roses. People had seen
Speaker 1: the two princes, they weren't quite princes, but we'll get
Speaker 1: to that later, playing outside on the lawns of the
Speaker 1: Tower of London that summer in but then their servants
Speaker 1: were dismissed. The princes were moved deeper within the grounds
Speaker 1: of the castle to the towers inner apartments, and then
Speaker 1: one day no one ever saw them again. The two
Speaker 1: doomed princes have come famous over the centuries through depictions
Speaker 1: in art. Perhaps the most iconic painting of the boys
Speaker 1: was done in eighteen seventy eight by Sir John Everett Millay,
Speaker 1: and it features the boys dressed in all black. They
Speaker 1: look younger than they would have actually been twelve and nine,
Speaker 1: and in the painting they're almost cherubic under halos of
Speaker 1: blonde hair, as the painter portrays them their innocence, martyrs
Speaker 1: of the cruel ambitions of the grown men around them.
Speaker 1: Most people probably learned the story of the Princess through Shakespeare.
Speaker 1: In his play Richard the Third, Shakespeare portrays the king
Speaker 1: as a scheming, villainous hunchback who lurks in the shadows,
Speaker 1: waiting for his moment to claim power and eventually to
Speaker 1: murder his own nephews in order to secure the crown.
Speaker 1: The Lord Chancellor Thomas Moore perhaps wrote the most famous
Speaker 1: historical account of Richard the Third, similarly portraying him as
Speaker 1: a murderous tyrant. It was More who first named names
Speaker 1: when it came to the Prince's alleged murderers, and he
Speaker 1: added the compelling details that their young bodies were buried
Speaker 1: under a staircase in the Tower of London. But it's
Speaker 1: important to remember that both of those men. More and
Speaker 1: Shakespeare were writing under the Tutor dynasty. History is told
Speaker 1: by the victors, after all, and Richard the Third was
Speaker 1: the end of his family's line. When Henry Tutor defeated
Speaker 1: him in battle and became King Henry the Seventh, his
Speaker 1: claim was pretty weak. There were other older families that really,
Speaker 1: arguably should have gotten the crown ahead of him, and
Speaker 1: his claim was really predicated on the fact that his
Speaker 1: victory over Richard the Third in the Battle of bosworth
Speaker 1: Field was God's will anointing him king. His power relied
Speaker 1: then on Richard the Third being a villainous usurper. Otherwise
Speaker 1: he Henry the seventh, would be the usurper. And so
Speaker 1: did Richard the Third actually order the death of his
Speaker 1: own nephews in order to secure his crown. Or was
Speaker 1: he manipulated after death into a villain by the Tutor
Speaker 1: pr machine when the boys might have been killed by
Speaker 1: them the Tutors all along, or did the boys survive
Speaker 1: and run away to live peaceful lives as park rangers
Speaker 1: in pastoral England. Over the years, the question of the
Speaker 1: Princes in the Tower has baffled and fascinated historians and
Speaker 1: casual hobbyists alike, to the point where factions have formed
Speaker 1: and become deeply entrenched, another smaller scale war of the
Speaker 1: roses happening among the history set. Here are the facts
Speaker 1: as we know them, that two boys came into the
Speaker 1: Tower of London, the sons of a king who should
Speaker 1: have been protected and powerful. But power is only as
Speaker 1: meaningful as one's ability to wield it, and kings are
Speaker 1: only kings so long as those around them choose to
Speaker 1: obey them. Whether you believe in murder or tutor plots
Speaker 1: or daring escapes, the heart of the matter is a
Speaker 1: reminder that the divine right to rule is fragile. Kings
Speaker 1: can be toppled by rumors as well as swords. Sometimes
Speaker 1: they're toppled by both. We will likely never find a
Speaker 1: definite answer to the question of what happened to the
Speaker 1: princes in the tower. Let me get that out of
Speaker 1: the way upfront, lest you listen to this whole episode
Speaker 1: hoping that I'm going to be the one to crack
Speaker 1: this thing wide open. Of course, I do have my
Speaker 1: own theory as to what happened, but I also believe
Speaker 1: that the killing of the two boys was a little
Speaker 1: less pat and a little less villainous than Shakespeare made
Speaker 1: it seem it was an era of kill or be killed,
Speaker 1: and with the walls closing in on him, Richard the
Speaker 1: Third had a decision to make I'm Dana Schwartz, and
Speaker 1: this is noble blood. When the man we now know
Speaker 1: as Richard the Third was born in fourteen fifty two,
Speaker 1: he was almost an afterthought. He was his parents fourth
Speaker 1: child and third son. They already had their air and
Speaker 1: their spare. In a family chronicle published when Richard was
Speaker 1: a child, their only note on the young Richard was
Speaker 1: that he quote liveth Yet Richard's father was also confusingly
Speaker 1: named Richard the d of York, also known as Richard Plantagenet.
Speaker 1: He was an incredibly important nobleman at the time, inheriting
Speaker 1: a claim to the throne through his own mother, which
Speaker 1: made him a key figure in the War of the Roses,
Speaker 1: which began unfolding in earnest during Richard the Third's childhood.
Speaker 1: Entire books can be and have been written about the
Speaker 1: War of the Roses, but I'm going to do an
Speaker 1: incredibly brief cursory overview just to give you an idea
Speaker 1: of how complicated the seemingly simple question of who the
Speaker 1: rightful King of England was so here are the crib notes.
Speaker 1: We begin with King Edward the Third, who reigned until
Speaker 1: thirteen seventy seven. He had eight sons and five daughters,
Speaker 1: so as you might imagine, there's plenty of legitimate and
Speaker 1: illegitimate royal blood swirling around in people ready to claim
Speaker 1: royal ancestry. His oldest son is his heir, Edward the
Speaker 1: Black Prince, and the Black Prince has his own son
Speaker 1: the next in line. But then Edward the Black Prince dies,
Speaker 1: and so when King Edward the Third dies, the throne
Speaker 1: goes to his grandchild, Richard the Second. The problem is
Speaker 1: Richard the Second is a ten year old boy at
Speaker 1: this point, and when there's a child in charge, especially
Speaker 1: a child like Richard the Second, who was speculated to
Speaker 1: be later either insane or suffering from a personality disorder,
Speaker 1: other people tend to want to move into that power vacuum.
Speaker 1: The War of the Roses becomes so called by future
Speaker 1: generations because the two families involved, the Yorks and the Lancasters,
Speaker 1: both had roses for their family symbols, the white rose
Speaker 1: of York and the red of Lancaster. Both families were
Speaker 1: descended from cadet branches of King Edward the Third cadet branches,
Speaker 1: meaning descended from his younger sons. Personally, I'm a very
Speaker 1: visual thinker, and I realize how challenging this is to
Speaker 1: communicate through audio. But bear with me if you can.
Speaker 1: King Edward the Third basically has four surviving sons that
Speaker 1: matter to the story right now, Edward the Black Prince,
Speaker 1: Lionel of Antwerp, John of Gaunt, and Edmund of Langley.
Speaker 1: Edward the Black Prince dies and he has the sickly
Speaker 1: son who's technically the king, but whose fairly disastrous reign
Speaker 1: sets up this power vacuum that allows the War of
Speaker 1: the Roses to happen. So now there are two main
Speaker 1: family lines vying for the throne. The Lancaster claim comes
Speaker 1: through son number three, John of Gaunt. The Yorkist claim
Speaker 1: is a little more complicated. Their heirs of son number two,
Speaker 1: Lionel of Antwerp, but through his female descendants head of
Speaker 1: the York family was Richard the Third's dad, Richard of York.
Speaker 1: On his mother's side, he's a descendant of Lionel Vantwerp,
Speaker 1: son number two, but on his father's side he's the
Speaker 1: grandson of Edmund of Langley, son number four, So it's
Speaker 1: two claims from sons too and four, which you know
Speaker 1: combined is arguably better than the Lancaster line from son three,
Speaker 1: arguably hence the war. The House of Lancaster has a
Speaker 1: successful early start. Henry the Fourth overthrows the weak, unpopular
Speaker 1: Richard the Second in his son Henry five, is also king,
Speaker 1: but makes the mistake of dying when his only son,
Speaker 1: Henry the sixth, is just an infant. Once again, we
Speaker 1: have a power vacuum, especially as Henry the sixth that
Speaker 1: gets older and begins suffering from mental illness, so the
Speaker 1: time is ripe for the Yorks to reclaim their throne.
Speaker 1: Richard the Third grows up in this period watching his
Speaker 1: father and older brother Edward leading a rebellion against the
Speaker 1: Lancaster King Henry the sixth. When Richard's father dies in
Speaker 1: battle in fourteen sixty, it's Richard the third older brother
Speaker 1: who becomes Edward the Fourth, who inherits the Yorkist claim
Speaker 1: to the throne and who ultimately wins. Richard's older brother
Speaker 1: Edward is crowned King Edward the Fourth and bearing one
Speaker 1: brief period ten years in where Henry the sixth and
Speaker 1: his supporters fight back and briefly get him back on
Speaker 1: the throne. Edward remains King Our Richard the third was
Speaker 1: a child through all of that. He was eight when
Speaker 1: his father was killed in battle, and he was sent
Speaker 1: away for low countries the Netherlands for his own safety.
Speaker 1: After that, only returning the next year when his older brother,
Speaker 1: Edward the fourth was crowned king. As the loyal younger
Speaker 1: brother of the new king, Richard was given a shiny
Speaker 1: new title, Duke of Gloucester. He's maid a Knight of
Speaker 1: the Garter and Knight of the Bath, and he remains loyal,
Speaker 1: looking up to his brother and eagerly fighting for his causes.
Speaker 1: When Richard is eleven, he's made Commissioner of Array. At seventeen,
Speaker 1: Richard has given independent command in the military. Aside from
Speaker 1: the brief hiccup when Henry the sixth returned to the
Speaker 1: throne for less than six months, things are going swimmingly
Speaker 1: for the York family. As Shakespeare put it immortally, quote,
Speaker 1: now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer
Speaker 1: by this son of York. By four seventy three, Edward
Speaker 1: the fourth was comfortably king and not just king, a
Speaker 1: king with two sons, the all important air and spare
Speaker 1: by his wife Elizabeth Woodville. The King's marriage was actually
Speaker 1: pretty controversial, put it mild. It was actually Edward the
Speaker 1: fourth choice of bride that pretty much caused that six
Speaker 1: month pickup where he lost the crown. You see, Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Woodville was from fairly middle rank. She had already been
Speaker 1: married to a supporter of the House of Lancaster, the
Speaker 1: enemy house, with whom she had two sons. Her last
Speaker 1: husband had died in battle fighting for the Lancasters. People
Speaker 1: saw the Woodvilles as a scheming, social climbing bunch, and
Speaker 1: when Edward the Fourth chose to marry one of them,
Speaker 1: his powerful cousin, the Earl of Warwick, defected to the
Speaker 1: other side and helped Henry the sixth with that brief restoration.
Speaker 1: All of that was probably a little awkward for young
Speaker 1: Richard the Third, who had grown up under the tutelage
Speaker 1: of Warwick. It was work who had trained him as
Speaker 1: a knight and provided for his education. After Warwick's betrayal
Speaker 1: and death in battle, Richard married his daughter, which Shakespeare
Speaker 1: positioned as a pretty cruel and insidious form of revenge,
Speaker 1: but which a more charitable interpretation to Richard the Third
Speaker 1: would point out also gave him a pretty massive inheritance.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day. For Richard, loyalty to
Speaker 1: his brother the king was the most important thing. One
Speaker 1: of his other brothers had actually chosen the opposite side
Speaker 1: during the rebellion and was executed for treason when Edward
Speaker 1: the Fourth came back to the throne, But Richard the
Speaker 1: Third had always been loyal, and so he continued to
Speaker 1: grow in power and prestige at his brother's side, loyal
Speaker 1: protector of the York Family dynasty. It was fourteen eighty three.
Speaker 1: After decades of war and thousands of lives lost in
Speaker 1: bloody conflicts up and down the country, England was finally
Speaker 1: at peace under King Edward the Four, but that piece
Speaker 1: was about to be shattered. On April nine, King Edward
Speaker 1: the Fourth died suddenly at age forty. We don't know
Speaker 1: what he died of, whether the illness might have been
Speaker 1: a sudden case of pneumonia or even malaria, or internal hemorrhaging,
Speaker 1: whatever it was. It was assumed at the time that
Speaker 1: the king's excessive lifestyle of eating and drinking to the
Speaker 1: extreme didn't help. But whatever the cause, he was dead
Speaker 1: and his twelve year old son was now King Edward
Speaker 1: the five. Young Edward was living at Ludlow Castle, the
Speaker 1: seat of power in Wales at the time. His guardian
Speaker 1: and tutor was his maternal uncle, a man named Lord Rivers.
Speaker 1: Lord Rivers had practically raised Edward from the time that
Speaker 1: he was a toddler. It was he Lord Rivers, the
Speaker 1: Queen's brother a Woodville, who taught Edward how to fight
Speaker 1: with the sword, who secured his tutors, and who became
Speaker 1: the strongest paternal present in his life. And it was
Speaker 1: he Lord Rivers who received the letter a few days
Speaker 1: after the king's death, who then had to inform Young
Speaker 1: Edward that his father had died and that he was
Speaker 1: now the king. Word of the king's death had also
Speaker 1: traveled to the north of England, where the dead King's brother,
Speaker 1: the future Richard the Third, had his estates. He immediately
Speaker 1: returned to his home and changed into black, attending a
Speaker 1: memorial service for his brother and weeping for his loss.
Speaker 1: Richard also got noticed that the late king's final wishes
Speaker 1: were to appoint him as protector of the realm, in
Speaker 1: effect de facto king until the twelve year old boy
Speaker 1: came of age. Richard, now thirty years old, was the
Speaker 1: logical choice. He was the most senior royal in the family,
Speaker 1: and after all, he had spent a lifetime in military service.
Speaker 1: He was considered an English hero for his leadership in
Speaker 1: putting down rebellions for his brother. He was loyal and
Speaker 1: adept at making quick decisions, even when those decisions were hard,
Speaker 1: and so he began to prepare to head down to
Speaker 1: London to uphold his brother's final wishes. But then another
Speaker 1: letter came. This one was from a man named Lord Hastings.
Speaker 1: Hastings was an old career nobleman, so to speak, one
Speaker 1: of the dead king's closest friends. He warned Richard that
Speaker 1: he needed to get down to London as quickly as possible,
Speaker 1: that the Woodvilles, the Queen's family, were closing their claws
Speaker 1: around power. The Woodvilles, once a middling noble family, had
Speaker 1: had a meteoric rise when their daughter Elizabeth had married
Speaker 1: Edward the Fourth, the type of rise that only happens
Speaker 1: because you're married to the king. They all knew well
Speaker 1: enough that if Richard had any real power, even temporarily,
Speaker 1: their stars would be falling, and so the Woodvills, who
Speaker 1: dominated the council in London, announced that the coronation for
Speaker 1: young Edward the Five would be immediate. It was a
Speaker 1: move designed to cut Richard out, and no doubt it's stung.
Speaker 1: After all, he was the King's loyal brother and a
Speaker 1: celebrated soldier. He had royal blood, and it was the
Speaker 1: late king's final wishes that he be Lord Protector until
Speaker 1: Edward the Five came of age. Who should be making
Speaker 1: decisions now a twelve year old boy a family that
Speaker 1: was basically middle class. By making the coronation immediate, the
Speaker 1: Woodvills were in effect dismissing Richard's position, deciding that Edward
Speaker 1: the Five was already fine to rule with the ice
Speaker 1: and guidance of his mother and her family. Of course,
Speaker 1: whatever Richard was thinking at this moment, we can't be sure.
Speaker 1: I don't really believe the Shakespearean portrayal that he was
Speaker 1: already plotting his own assent to the throne. But I
Speaker 1: can't imagine that he figured, probably correctly, that he was
Speaker 1: the one who should rightfully be in power at the moment.
Speaker 1: Richard wrote to Lord Rivers, the guardian of the new King,
Speaker 1: and said, let's all meet up on the way down
Speaker 1: to London for the coronation in Northampton, so we can
Speaker 1: enter London together as a sign of unity and strength.
Speaker 1: Lord Rivers had no reason to doubt Richard, and so
Speaker 1: he readily agreed with the new uncoornated King Edward the Five.
Speaker 1: Staying nearby at Stony Stratford, Richard went to meet Lord Rivers. Recall,
Speaker 1: Lord Rivers is a Woodville, the brother of the Queen,
Speaker 1: and so by this point Richard sees him as one
Speaker 1: of the bowl, wrestling rightful power away from him. And
Speaker 1: it's here that Richard the Third makes a fateful decision,
Speaker 1: one that will be the first domino that leads to
Speaker 1: his own destruction. After the men spend the evening cordially
Speaker 1: enough discussing travel arrangements and plans for the coronation, Richard
Speaker 1: the Third has his guards arrest Rivers for treason. The
Speaker 1: next morning, Richard goes to see his nephew, the new King. Alone,
Speaker 1: Richard informs the new King that unfortunately his beloved uncle
Speaker 1: Rivers was a trader. The charge against him was, if
Speaker 1: you'll forgive me in my opinion a little flimsy. Richard
Speaker 1: claims that Lord Rivers was responsible for speeding up the
Speaker 1: death of the late King Edward the Fourth by encouraging
Speaker 1: his heavy drinking. Young King Edward the five is shocked, angry,
Speaker 1: and maybe a little scared. Though Richard is the boy's uncle,
Speaker 1: they barely know each other. Edward grew up in London
Speaker 1: and at Ludlow and Richard's the states were mostly in
Speaker 1: the North of England. It was Lord Rivers who basically
Speaker 1: raised him. There was one uncle that he trusted and
Speaker 1: one uncle that he really didn't, but what choice did
Speaker 1: he have. At that point, Richard informed the boy that
Speaker 1: it was time to go down to London for his coronation.
Speaker 1: I'm sure Edward was thinking something along the lines of, well,
Speaker 1: I'm going to become king and it's nothing I won't
Speaker 1: be able to straighten out with the rest of my
Speaker 1: family when I get to London. But now the power
Speaker 1: has shifted in Richard's favor. When he arrives in London
Speaker 1: with the young King and word of the Woodville Lord
Speaker 1: Rivers supposed treason, Richard is finally able to be officially
Speaker 1: appointed Lord Protector, at least until Edward the Fifth coronation,
Speaker 1: which is set for June twenty second, seven weeks away.
Speaker 1: Those seven weeks become a ticking clock. Richard has raised
Speaker 1: the stakes, and if he wants to hold onto power,
Speaker 1: he needs to work quickly. It's at this point that
Speaker 1: Richard has the Young King Edward the Fifth placed in
Speaker 1: the Tower of London. Now that sounds a little bit
Speaker 1: more sinister than it was. The Tower of London now
Speaker 1: is most famous for being a prison, but it was
Speaker 1: also a royal residence, and it was tradition for a
Speaker 1: king to stay there the night before his coronation. But
Speaker 1: from this point on Edward is more or less under
Speaker 1: house arrest by his uncle Richard. Edward will never leave
Speaker 1: the grounds of the Tower of London again. Edward's mother,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Woodville, the Dowager Queen, flees to Westminster Abbey Sanctuary
Speaker 1: with her other children, her daughters, and her other son,
Speaker 1: a nine year old boy named Richard. Meanwhile, the elder
Speaker 1: Richard the third is trying to shore up his power.
Speaker 1: He knows full well that the second that the Young
Speaker 1: King Edward the Fifth is coronated, he's going to revert
Speaker 1: back to full Woodville control. Richard grows increasingly paranoid, feeling
Speaker 1: trapped into a corner as the Royal Council, still dominated
Speaker 1: by Woodvilles, keeps blocking his moves. Richard attempts to put
Speaker 1: Lord Rivers, still imprisoned, on trial for treason, and he
Speaker 1: also tries to get the young Richard the second quote
Speaker 1: unquote Prince into the Tower of London for quote unquote
Speaker 1: safe keeping. Richard the Third fears that even his once
Speaker 1: close ally, Lord Hastings, has betrayed him and has begun
Speaker 1: working with the Woodvilles to undermine his power. With just
Speaker 1: nine days left until Edward the fifth Coronation, Richard calls
Speaker 1: a small council meeting at the Power of London, and
Speaker 1: to everyone's surprise, he has Lord Hastings arrested. Lord Hastings
Speaker 1: is brought outside and executed in the yard that afternoon
Speaker 1: on a makeshift chopping block, killed illegally without a trial.
Speaker 1: For staunch defenders of Richard. This killing of Lord Hastings is,
Speaker 1: at least the way I see it, one of those
Speaker 1: real sticking points that looks bad. It was a move
Speaker 1: made almost certainly out of fear and paranoia and desperation,
Speaker 1: but it was also an illegal execution without a trial
Speaker 1: of one of the most respected noblemen in the country,
Speaker 1: one of the late King's closest friends. Richard just gave
Speaker 1: his enemies the fuel that they'll need later on when
Speaker 1: they'll try to paint him as an outright villain. But
Speaker 1: for now, Richard has made his power and is ruthlessness known,
Speaker 1: and through the Archbishop, he more or less forces Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Woodville to release her younger son into Richard's custody in
Speaker 1: the Tower of London, still at this point under the
Speaker 1: pretense of preparing for his older brother's coronation. Now Richard
Speaker 1: has both princes in his custody in the Tower. I
Speaker 1: think now is as good a time as any just
Speaker 1: to clear something up. Technically, neither of them were actually
Speaker 1: princes when they were in the tower. One of them
Speaker 1: was a king even though he was not coronated yet,
Speaker 1: he was still King Edward the five, and the other
Speaker 1: was a duke, young Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.
Speaker 1: But people call them the Princess the Princess in the Tower,
Speaker 1: so for clarity, that's sometimes how I'll refer to them.
Speaker 1: But whatever their titles, now that they were in Richard's control.
Speaker 1: The pieces were in place for him to make a
Speaker 1: big move. Seemingly out of nowhere, a bishop comes forward
Speaker 1: and announces that actually the late King Edward the Fourth's
Speaker 1: marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid because he had already
Speaker 1: been pre contracted to another woman, and by law at
Speaker 1: that time, pre contracts with witnesses were as good as marriage.
Speaker 1: The bishop who came forward claimed that he had been
Speaker 1: the one who performed the earlier ceremony, back before he
Speaker 1: was a bishop. He was promoted under Edward the Fourth,
Speaker 1: which some people see as a sign that his claim
Speaker 1: was true. Maybe Edward the Fourth promoted him to keep
Speaker 1: him quiet, and he only felt safe coming forward after
Speaker 1: the king's death. But unfortunately we have no real tangible
Speaker 1: proof on either side. The woman Edward the fourth had
Speaker 1: allegedly been contracted to Eleanor Butler had already passed away.
Speaker 1: The streets of London were buzzing with the gossip, and
Speaker 1: true or not, the timing could not have been more
Speaker 1: convenient for Richard. If the king's marriage was invalid, his
Speaker 1: children were illegitimate and ineligible to become king. Well, then
Speaker 1: who should rule instead? I think then it has to
Speaker 1: be the late king's brother, Richard. A petition arrives for him,
Speaker 1: nobles and commoners asking Richard to be king, and he
Speaker 1: dramatically hesitates for a moment theatrically before humbly agreeing to
Speaker 1: do his duty. On July six three, Richard, Duke of Gloucester,
Speaker 1: is crowned King Richard the Third. Richard's nephews, the quote
Speaker 1: unquote princes were seen playing on the lawns later that summer,
Speaker 1: but then their servants were dismissed. They were moved to
Speaker 1: apartments deeper within the castle's compound, and though some claimed
Speaker 1: to see them at the windows gazing out, by autumn
Speaker 1: of free nobody ever sees young Edward or Young Richard again.
Speaker 1: King Richard the Third has a short reign, although not
Speaker 1: as enemies retroactively portray it, not an unsuccessful or unpopular reign.
Speaker 1: Contemporaries actually seemed to approve of him, but support grew
Speaker 1: both in England and abroad for the exiled Henry Tudor,
Speaker 1: who had a claim to the throne through his mother,
Speaker 1: Margaret Beaufort, who was a Lancastrian, the great granddaughter of
Speaker 1: John Gaunt, that third surviving son of Edward the third.
Speaker 1: Henry Tudor faced Richard in combat during the Battle of
Speaker 1: bosworth Field, and though they say that Richard got within
Speaker 1: a sword's length of Henry Tudor, eventually Richard was surrounded
Speaker 1: and knocked to the ground. It's here that Shakespeare imagined
Speaker 1: that Richard uttered the immortal line my Kingdom for a horse.
Speaker 1: Richard was killed, according to legend, by a Welshman who
Speaker 1: delivered such a violent blow with a polex that Richard's
Speaker 1: helmet was driven through his skull. In actuality, Richard probably
Speaker 1: just lost his helmet in battle, but we'll get to
Speaker 1: that a little bit later. Richard was dead and Henry
Speaker 1: was crowned King Henry the seventh. As a sign of
Speaker 1: unity and to strengthen his claim to the throne, Henry
Speaker 1: married the young Elizabeth of York, the sister of those
Speaker 1: princes in the Tower. Because Henry's claim was through the
Speaker 1: Lancastrian side and Elizabeth was a York he was symbolically
Speaker 1: uniting the feuding houses of the War of the Roses,
Speaker 1: and he established a new house the Tutors, with the
Speaker 1: symbol of a combined white and red rose. It was
Speaker 1: during the tudorign that the stories really began to emerge
Speaker 1: about the evil, scheming Richard the Third, who killed his
Speaker 1: own innocent little nephews to take the crown for himself.
Speaker 1: The truth that Henry and his supporters wouldn't really like
Speaker 1: to admit out loud is that it was pretty convenient
Speaker 1: for him too that those princes were gone. If they
Speaker 1: were alive, he would basically have no claim to the throne.
Speaker 1: Even centuries later, we can't help but be fascinated and
Speaker 1: compelled by the image of the would be king and
Speaker 1: his younger brother, these angelic blond boys gazing out of
Speaker 1: a window like ghosts, innocent who are victims of ambition
Speaker 1: or who maybe went on to live a life that
Speaker 1: we can only speculate about. Because the mystery of the
Speaker 1: disappearance of the princes is still unanswered, and because there
Speaker 1: were so many layers of gossip and propaganda on both sides,
Speaker 1: and a seemingly infinite number of people who benefited from
Speaker 1: the boy's deaths, it's ripe for conspiracy theories. Not even
Speaker 1: conspiracy theories necessarily, just theories, and all of them sort
Speaker 1: of plausible if you squint. So let's get to some
Speaker 1: of those possible answers, the most commonly accepted answer is
Speaker 1: that Richard was responsible for the death of his nephews,
Speaker 1: not personally, mind you, he wasn't a cartoon villain who
Speaker 1: went and strangled two children himself while twirling his mustache,
Speaker 1: but that the deaths were done on his orders. Thomas Moore,
Speaker 1: who you have to remember, was writing under the Tutors,
Speaker 1: wrote that the murder itself was done by James Terrell,
Speaker 1: Richard's master of the horse, and that he was aided
Speaker 1: by two men named Miles Forrest and John Dighton. According
Speaker 1: to Moore's account, the two boys were suffocated and buried
Speaker 1: at the bottom of a flight of stairs, and then
Speaker 1: later moved. It's also possible that the murders were done
Speaker 1: by someone loyal to Richard, but not on his exact orders.
Speaker 1: Maybe a will no one rid me of this meddlesome
Speaker 1: priest situation. Unfortunately, I know it's not exciting, but I
Speaker 1: personally do think that this is a situation where the
Speaker 1: most boring answer is probably the right one. After Richard
Speaker 1: was crowned, he went on a tour of the country
Speaker 1: as a show of strength to show the people that
Speaker 1: there was a solid king in charge. While he was away,
Speaker 1: his guards thwarted an attempt to spring the princes from
Speaker 1: the tower. The conspirators were going to set fires around
Speaker 1: the tower and escape with the boys in the chaos.
Speaker 1: The plan, as I said, was thwarted, but probably made
Speaker 1: it very clear to Richard that as long as the
Speaker 1: two boys were alive, and even though they had been
Speaker 1: officially declared illegitimate, they were still a threat. There were
Speaker 1: always going to be people who thought that they were
Speaker 1: the rightful kings, and there were always going to be
Speaker 1: enemies of Richard's who would want to use them as ponds. Plus,
Speaker 1: of course, even twelve year old boys eventually grow up
Speaker 1: to be men, men who can gather supporters and fight
Speaker 1: for a rightful claim to the throne. Even if Richard
Speaker 1: did order the death of his nephews, I think it's
Speaker 1: worth realizing that he probably didn't see himself as a monster.
Speaker 1: Richard had grown up during the War of the Roses,
Speaker 1: and he saw firsthand how bloody and deadly it was
Speaker 1: when the claim to the crown was contested, or when
Speaker 1: a weak child king was in charge. Tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of people died in battle and civil war made England
Speaker 1: and the monarchy vulnerable. If Richard did order the murders
Speaker 1: of his nephews, he probably would have seen it as
Speaker 1: a necessary evil to protect the peace and stability in
Speaker 1: the country and to protect his own son's claimed the throne.
Speaker 1: These were incredibly bloody times, and the stakes were life
Speaker 1: and death. Could the princes have died of natural causes, maybe,
Speaker 1: but they were two pretty young, healthy boys who mysteriously
Speaker 1: went missing at exactly the same time. Also, if they
Speaker 1: had died of natural causes, Richard probably would have wanted
Speaker 1: that known so people wouldn't rally behind them, and so
Speaker 1: people would stop accusing him of the nephew murder. A
Speaker 1: lot of Richard's defenders make the case that it was
Speaker 1: actually the tutors who killed the two princes in the tower.
Speaker 1: When Henry the seventh overthrew Richard three, Henry would have
Speaker 1: rightfully recognized that Edward the fifth and his brother being alive,
Speaker 1: were a major major threat to his rule, and because
Speaker 1: he had just overthrown Richard the third, he needed a
Speaker 1: way to make Richard look as evil as possible. It
Speaker 1: makes sense that if the princess had still been alive
Speaker 1: in four five, when Henry the seventh took the throne,
Speaker 1: killing them and framing Richard would be the ultimate two
Speaker 1: birds one stone. It's a really interesting theory and definitely
Speaker 1: one that I understand why people believe, but there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of factual evidence, and I think that there
Speaker 1: would have been some record, some sightings, anything, if the
Speaker 1: princess had still been alive by five, which I just
Speaker 1: don't think on the merit of evidence that they were.
Speaker 1: Thanks to historical fiction, particularly the incredibly popular work of
Speaker 1: Philippa Gregory, there's also a very popular theory that the
Speaker 1: deaths were actually the work of Henry the Seventh's powerful mother,
Speaker 1: Margaret Beaufort, who manipulated the situation while Richard was still king. Again.
Speaker 1: It's a fantastic story that this woman saw the opportunity
Speaker 1: to frame Richard and rally the cause around her own son,
Speaker 1: while at the same time eliminating the people who would
Speaker 1: be in line for the throne ahead of him. But
Speaker 1: we don't really have any actual evidence of this beyond
Speaker 1: a good story. It's fun, but you know, the princes
Speaker 1: under Richard were heavily heavily guarded, and though Margaret Beaufort
Speaker 1: could have in theory bribed the very loyal guards. It's
Speaker 1: almost impossible to believe that she could have offered anything
Speaker 1: that the sitting king couldn't have offered. No one could
Speaker 1: have predicted that Henry the seven would have been the
Speaker 1: one to best Richard the three and become king himself. Personally,
Speaker 1: I think this is a question of hindsight being able
Speaker 1: to show us things that Margaret couldn't possibly have known
Speaker 1: at the time. You would have to believe that this
Speaker 1: woman was playing four dimensional chess with things playing out
Speaker 1: in an incredibly unpredictable way. And you also have to
Speaker 1: believe that she was incredibly ruthless, even though contemporary sources
Speaker 1: actually paint her as a pretty pious lady. But again,
Speaker 1: I will never knock someone for wanting to believe a
Speaker 1: good story. Okay, that's not true. There is one story
Speaker 1: that I do just have to debunk a little bit
Speaker 1: out of hand. In recent months, a story has gone
Speaker 1: around the Internet saying that actually the Princess survived and
Speaker 1: that a series of quote Da Vinci code like clues
Speaker 1: reveal that Edward the Fifth escaped the tower to live
Speaker 1: a private, secret life as a park ranger named John Evans.
Speaker 1: In rural devon. Those da Vinci code like clues include
Speaker 1: an effigy of John Evans having a small scar on
Speaker 1: his chin that young Edward also might have had, and
Speaker 1: that Evans on one of the shields in the church
Speaker 1: is written as e V A S, which could stand
Speaker 1: for e V get it like Edward the Five, and
Speaker 1: then a S, which they think might refer to the
Speaker 1: Latin word spelled a s A, which means sanctuary assa.
Speaker 1: The church also has a lot of Yorkist symbols throughout,
Speaker 1: including a stained glass window depicting the young King Edward
Speaker 1: the Five with a bunch of deer nearby, which some
Speaker 1: see as a clue because John Evans was a park
Speaker 1: ranger on a deer estate. It's cool and fun in theory,
Speaker 1: but again there is no actual proof. The Yorkist symbols
Speaker 1: in the church are actually from early in the reign
Speaker 1: of Henry the Eighth, when there was a moment of
Speaker 1: Yorkist reconciliation for the sake of unity. I guess for
Speaker 1: me it's a question of which is more likely, one
Speaker 1: that the princes managed to escape with no one writing
Speaker 1: or talking about it, or that Richard or Henry had
Speaker 1: had them safely moved away somewhere where they would have
Speaker 1: been free to raise their own army or rally supporters
Speaker 1: behind them, and that they left behind a series of
Speaker 1: elaborate riddles about it, or two that a guy named
Speaker 1: John Evans got a job as a parker and also
Speaker 1: a church had some Yorkist symbols during a period of reconciliation.
Speaker 1: But fundamentally the mystery and all of the theories all
Speaker 1: get to the heart of why the missing princes have
Speaker 1: spawned such passionate debate. Because there are so many unknowns,
Speaker 1: people love coming up with stories, and because it's such
Speaker 1: a dramatic and bloody saga with so many suspects. With
Speaker 1: these compelling innocent victims, people are going to keep coming
Speaker 1: up with stories and will probably never be able to
Speaker 1: prove anyone right or wrong with any absolute certainty. In
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy four, when King Charles the Second was having
Speaker 1: some renovations done to the Tower of London, two workmen
Speaker 1: digging under a staircase found a wooden box which contained
Speaker 1: two small human skeletons. Because of the history written by More,
Speaker 1: it became widely assumed that the bodies were those of
Speaker 1: the princes buried under the staircase, even though Moore's account
Speaker 1: did say that the bodies were later moved after they
Speaker 1: were buried there, still Charles the Second had the remains
Speaker 1: interred in a white marble sarcophagus in Westminster Abbey, giving
Speaker 1: them the proper royal burial to which they were entitled.
Speaker 1: Transcribed from the Latin, the inscription on their grave reads,
Speaker 1: here lie the relics of Edward, the fifth, King of
Speaker 1: England and Richard, Duke of York. These brothers, being confined
Speaker 1: mind in the Tower of London, and they're stifled with pillows,
Speaker 1: were privately and meanly buried by the order of their
Speaker 1: perfidious uncle, Richard the Usurper, whose bones long inquired after
Speaker 1: and wished for after one hundred and ninety one years,
Speaker 1: in the rubbish of the stairs those lately leading to
Speaker 1: the chapel of the White Tower, were on the seventeenth
Speaker 1: day of July six seventy four, by undoubted proofs discovered
Speaker 1: being buried deep in that place. Charles the Second, a
Speaker 1: most compassionate prince, pitying their severe fate, ordered these unhappy
Speaker 1: princes to be laid amongst the monuments of their predecessors
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy eight, in the thirtieth year of his reign.
Speaker 1: A little dramatic, but it communicates the message. In nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty three, those remains were exhumed and re examined, and
Speaker 1: studies confirmed that the bone ones within the tomb were
Speaker 1: in fact the remains of two children of appropriate ages.
Speaker 1: But that was three. The scientific methods used were shaky
Speaker 1: at best, and there was of course no DNA testing.
Speaker 1: The Church and Queen Elizabeth the Second have both made
Speaker 1: their wishes clear that the bodies not be re exhumed
Speaker 1: for DNA testing, imagining that it might be difficult to
Speaker 1: come up with anything conclusive, that it would be destructive
Speaker 1: to the bodies in Westminster Abbey, and that it would
Speaker 1: set a bad precedence. Personally, I'm hoping that when Charles
Speaker 1: becomes king he insists upon it, just out of sheer curiosity.
Speaker 1: The truth is, the question of the murder of the
Speaker 1: princes in the Tower has become such a contentious debate,
Speaker 1: with so many people so deeply entrenched in their beliefs,
Speaker 1: that I think even if the testing came back saying
Speaker 1: those bodies were the princes, even if we had a
Speaker 1: handwritten confession from someone found. I doubt the case would
Speaker 1: actually be settled. There are stories to be told and
Speaker 1: mysteries still to be explored. That's the story of Richard
Speaker 1: the Third's rise to power. But keep listening after a
Speaker 1: brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about
Speaker 1: Richard's more recent history. On September twelve, and incredible discovery
Speaker 1: was made. The University of Lester, working with the amateur
Speaker 1: historian Philippa Langley, announced that a skeleton that they had
Speaker 1: found in a dig underneath a parking lot was quite
Speaker 1: possibly the remains of Richard the Third. Subsequent DNA tests
Speaker 1: confirmed it after hundreds of years, they had found Richard
Speaker 1: the Third in a parking lot. Richard had been defeated
Speaker 1: in battle and so his corpse was paraded around by
Speaker 1: his enemies until he was finally buried quickly and without
Speaker 1: a shroud or marker, near the choir of Greyfriars Church
Speaker 1: in Leicester in four in a place of honor near
Speaker 1: the front of the church, but with no pomp or ceremony.
Speaker 1: During the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry the Eighth,
Speaker 1: Greyfriars Church was demolished and the sight of it became
Speaker 1: lost over time until it wasn't. Through analysis of the skeleton,
Speaker 1: they found that Richard the Third did have scoliosis, although
Speaker 1: he wasn't the hunchback that Shakespeare made him out to be,
Speaker 1: and they found out that he was most likely killed
Speaker 1: by a violent halberd wounded to the exposed base of
Speaker 1: his neck in battle that probably left his brain visible.
Speaker 1: Richard the Third was reburied in Leicester Cathedral. Benedict Cumberbatch,
Speaker 1: the actor who had played Richard in the television show
Speaker 1: The Hollow Crown, was there to read a poem, It's
Speaker 1: wild to imagine that a man can be a king
Speaker 1: and still somehow get lost and end up beneath a
Speaker 1: parking lot. They found him under an actual parking spot.
Speaker 1: Richard the Third was under a spot that was reserved
Speaker 1: and it had been painted just a few years earlier
Speaker 1: with the letter are Noble Blood is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Minky.
Speaker 1: The show was written and hosted by Dana Schwartz. Executive
Speaker 1: producers include Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. The
Speaker 1: show is produced by rema Ill Kali, and Trevor Young.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is on social media at Noble Blood Tales,
Speaker 1: and you can learn more about the show over at
Speaker 1: Noble blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M