Prince in the Tower: Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York

Edward V, the uncrowned boy king who may have perished in the Tower in 1483, retains his place in the line of English kings with his own regnal number.  The Princes in the Tower have been the subject of plays, portraits and novels for more than five centuries.  Speculation remains rife today about who killed them or ordered them killed, why, and whether the remains discovered during the reign of Charles II are actually theirs.  It's easy for children, even royal children, to lose their voice and their identity when they are in the power of unscrupulous adults.  The younger brother covered under the label Princes in the Tower is thus often passed over, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.

Richard, 1473-1483, hadn't quite reached his 10th birthday when he was last seen playing the Tower gardens along with his older brother Edward.  Richard was the youngest surviving son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.  As his name suggests, he was born in Shrewsbury.  In those days, royal sons didn't have to wait until marriage to receive their dukedoms.  Richard was made Duke of York and a Knight of the Garter in 1474, when barely a year old.  From him comes the tradition of a King's second son bearing the title Duke of York, which continues to Prince Andrew today.  In 1476, Richard received a secondary title of Earl of Nottingham, but there was more to come.  In St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, when he was four years old, Richard was married to the grandest heiress in the kingdom.  Five-year-old Anne de Mowbray, Countess of Warren and Duchess of Norfolk in her own right died in 1481, long before she and Richard could ever hope to have a life together as man and wife.  Edward IV was anxious that the vast de Mowbray inheritance, with the two titles, should remain Richard's and therefore permanently within the royal family.  In 1483, shortly before Edward IV's death, Parliament passed an act permanently granting the titles of Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Warrenne to Richard and his heirs.  Edward IV paid the debts of one heir to the tile in exchange for a voluntary relinquishment of his rights to Anne's great inheritance. 

Then, in 1483, Richard of York's world turned upside down.  Edward IV died suddenly and his son, Edward V was named king, with their uncle Richard of Gloucester as Lord Protector of the Realm.  Fearing that Richard of Gloucester, the future Richard III, would do something dreadful to her boys, Elizabeth Woodville sought refuge in Westminster Abbey.  Richard persuaded her that he would preserve her sons' rights and she relinquished their custody to him.  In reality, she really had no other option.  Richard lodged the two youngsters in the Tower.  This wasn't on its face anything sinister.  The Tower was also a royal residence and was one of the most secure fortresses in England.  Further, lodging at the Tower was often a prelude to coronation.  However, Richard of Gloucester contended that the late Edward IV hadn't been legitimately married to Elizabeth Woodville, as he'd been engaged to another lady previously, making their marriage null and void.  Young Edward and Richard were declared illegitimate and Richard of Gloucester assumed the throne as the (in)famous Richard III.

Then, in 1483, the boys simply disappeared.  What happened will forever by one of the most debated cold cases in English history.  In 1674, workmen digging under a stairway in the Tower complex found what they believed to be the bones of two young children.  Convinced that these were the remains of Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, Charles II had the bones reburied in Westminster Abbey with appropriate royal ceremony.  Were these human bones and were they related to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.  No one will know for sure unless the remains are able to be analyzed by modern science, which is highly unlikely.  Recently, members of the same effort to locate Richard III's remains have sought to reopen the case regarding what happened to these two little Plantagenets.  Whether they will find out the truth remains to be seen.