BBC Lucy Worsley Investigates_3of4_Princes in the Tower
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00:00Summer, 1483, the Tower of London.
00:07Two young boys are about to become victims
00:10of one of the greatest unsolved crimes of British history.
00:15King Edward IV is dead.
00:18His 12-year-old son is about to be crowned.
00:22But instead, the story goes,
00:25he and his younger brother are murdered in their beds.
00:31This mystery will endure.
00:34What really happened to the princes in the tower?
00:42In this series, I'm re-investigating
00:45some of the most dramatic and brutal chapters in British history.
00:50It wasn't just one generation.
00:53It was three generations losing their lives.
00:56Bum, bum, bum.
00:58These stories form part of our national mythology.
01:01They harbour mysteries that have intrigued us for centuries.
01:06It's chilling to think that this could actually be evidence
01:09in a murder investigation.
01:12But with the passage of time,
01:14we have new ways to unlock their secrets,
01:18using scientific advances and a modern perspective.
01:22It's a horrible psychosexual form of torture. Absolutely.
01:26I'm going to uncover forgotten witnesses.
01:29I'm going to re-examine old evidence
01:32and follow new clues to get closer to the truth.
01:37It is one of the great British mysteries.
01:40It was one of those moments, I'm afraid, for a historian,
01:43that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
01:53The story of the Princes in the Tower is as familiar as a fairy tale.
02:00Two innocent boys, murdered by their evil Uncle Richard
02:05so he could seize the throne for himself.
02:09500 years ago, it was in this very town
02:14that the Prince of England, Prince Edward,
02:18500 years ago, it was in this very building
02:23that the two young princes, Edward and Richard, were last seen alive.
02:29After that, they disappeared from the historical record.
02:33I'd like to know if they were murdered,
02:36and if so, who was responsible?
02:48BELL RINGS
02:55As a historian, royal history is my home turf.
03:00I'm well aware that when it comes to the Princes in the Tower,
03:04Richard III has hogged the limelight.
03:10Shakespeare portrayed him as the biggest baddie of British history.
03:17The individual exhumed in September 2012
03:20is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England.
03:24But the discovery of his remains under a Leicester car park in 2012
03:29fuelled a passionate campaign to reclaim his reputation.
03:33He was buried in Leicester Cathedral with stately ceremony.
03:38Here in a cathedral, history meets the present.
03:42You might find that there's something rather awkward
03:45being glossed over here in this celebration of Richard III.
03:49Yes, he was king for two years, but to get there,
03:53a lot of people would tell you that he murdered his own nephews,
03:57and they were just children.
04:00So, although facts about them are hard to come by,
04:03it's the story of the princes that I want to explore and reclaim.
04:13Edward and Richard were just 12 and 9 when they were supposedly killed.
04:19To piece together their story,
04:21I think I need to try to get beyond my preconceptions.
04:25And, like a lot of people, when you say the words
04:28The Prince is in the Tower, what comes into my mind is this image.
04:33It's by the Victorian painter John Everett Millais.
04:38And he shows the little boys in the last moments of their lives
04:42just before they're going to be killed.
04:44It's a painting that tugs at the heartstrings.
04:46But really, it's a painting about Victorian values
04:50and about the innocence of childhood.
04:53Millais shows them as archetypes in a fairy tale,
04:56and it really has very little relationship to the historical truth.
05:01To discover who these royal boys really were,
05:05I need to understand the world in which they lived.
05:10They were born into one of the most violent periods of British history.
05:15The Wars of the Roses, a decades-long fight over the English throne
05:20between two factions of the royal family, Lancaster and York.
05:26It had already taken a bloody toll
05:28when Lancastrian King Henry VI was killed by Edward IV,
05:33making him the first Yorkist king.
05:36Edward was ruthless.
05:38He murdered his own brother George for betraying him.
05:41But Richard he made Duke of Gloucester,
05:44giving him power in the north of England.
05:47The Prince's father, Edward IV,
05:51was a notorious philanderer.
05:53And on top of that, nobody liked his wife.
05:56As king, he was supposed to have married a virginal foreign princess
06:01to forge a new international alliance for England.
06:04And instead, he'd married Elizabeth Woodville,
06:07the widow of a Lancastrian.
06:10The English nobility are jealous that the Woodvilles got Richard
06:15For her part, Elizabeth Woodville did keep the bargain.
06:19She gave the king what she was supposed to do, ten children,
06:22including two all-important surviving male heirs.
06:27So this is the backdrop against which the princes are born.
06:32The Wars of the Roses, an unpopular, powerful mother,
06:37the state of Lancaster.
06:39The Wars of the Roses, an unpopular, powerful mother,
06:45the stage is set for scenes of high drama.
06:55From the moment of his birth, the eldest prince, Edward,
06:59was destined to inherit the throne,
07:02and secure the dynasty at the House of York.
07:06In the cutthroat climate of the Wars of the Roses,
07:09he offered hope for stability and healing.
07:13He was extremely valuable, but equally vulnerable.
07:18This is where young Edward grew up, in his very own castle.
07:26Most sons of the nobility were sent away from their families at the age of 7,
07:31to learn the skills required for life at court.
07:34Edward was moved here to Ludlow, in Shropshire, at just 3.
07:40His whole household was dedicated to protecting him,
07:44and preparing him, one day, to rule the kingdom.
07:48Though few records survive,
07:50I've tracked down a document which demonstrates his worth.
07:55Here are the records of things that were paid out for his wardrobe.
08:03Here, a payment is made for the making of a long gown of crimson velvet.
08:09There's a payment here for the doublet of black velvet,
08:13furred with a tawny fox.
08:15Ooh, here he's had, I think that's a jacket, made out of cloth of gold.
08:20This is expensive stuff.
08:22This shows that Edward, at least, is no ordinary child.
08:28In the eyes of the Church in medieval England,
08:31you were a child until the age of 14.
08:34At that point, a girl should be ready to marry and bear children,
08:38a boy to fight and die in battle.
08:41For Edward, it meant being ready to be king.
08:49Edward IV entrusted the task of schooling his son and successor
08:54to the Queen's brother, Antony Woodville.
08:59Young master...
09:04I love that feeling of walking where he must have walked.
09:09He was here.
09:14I wonder what it was like for young Edward,
09:17growing up here, away from his parents and his younger brother Richard.
09:22Destined for a future he couldn't escape.
09:29Only one historian has ever attempted a biography of Edward's short life.
09:34Very pleased to meet you.
09:36You've got your own book there. Yes. Fantastic.
09:40Given that Edward was free when he came to live here with Antony Woodville,
09:44is it fair to say that Woodville was probably more of a father figure to him
09:49than his actual father?
09:51Yes, I think he probably was.
09:53He was not just a distant overseer.
09:57He was always in the household with the prince.
10:01And you've been able to recreate his time here. What was it like?
10:05Well, we know Edward IV wrote a set of ordinances for the household
10:11which regulated the prince's timetable.
10:16So he shall arise every morning at a convenient hour.
10:19Which was six o'clock.
10:21That's not very convenient in my view!
10:25It says here that little Edward is going to have his breakfast immediately after his mass.
10:30He's going to spend the day in virtuous learning.
10:33So this sounds like a very formal, structured, rigorous way of life.
10:37Sounds like a little king, really.
10:39Yes, and then Edward ordained that no person, man or woman,
10:44may be a customary swearer, ruler, backbiter,
10:49or use words of rebelry in the presence of our said son.
10:54I like it that they explicitly say no swearing in the prince's presence.
10:58And then, after lunch, he has despots.
11:02Despots? Now, that doesn't really mean leisure, does it?
11:05No, it means athletic activity.
11:08Riding and walking and fighting.
11:12And this is training to be a warrior.
11:14Yes. He had a special set of armour which was made for him.
11:19His father was first in battle at 13. Is that right?
11:23Yes.
11:24This is clearly not a normal upbringing, even at the time.
11:28It's just hard to imagine a little boy having all of this expectation placed upon him.
11:33He had a dozen years or more when he mattered and was politically significant.
11:40He knew what he was going to be.
11:43He was a prince expecting to become a king, and his future was set out.
11:48Michael, what's your view? Do you think that Richard III is guilty or not?
11:53Yes, of course he's guilty!
11:56Ha, ha, ha!
12:06One of the fascinating things about this chapter of history…
12:09…is just how fragmentary the sources are.
12:12There's very little in the way of hard evidence.
12:15This, it's an account by Dominic Mancini, an Italian scholar, who was visiting England.
12:21And this is pretty close to an eyewitness description…
12:25…of the events of 1483, the summer that the princes disappeared.
12:31Now, the original of Mancini's work is in a library in France.
12:37It's pretty amazing.
12:38And it's also amazing to think that this document was only discovered in the 1930s.
12:44Imagine the thrill of coming across that!
12:46This is the original Latin.
12:48It's been written out by a scribe, and Mancini has put some little notes of his own in the margin.
12:55Mancini probably met the 12–year–old Edward.
12:59He clearly saw him as a king in the making.
13:03In word and deed, he gave so many proofs of polite…
13:08…rather scholarly attainments far behind his age.
13:14He had such dignity in his own person,…
13:18…and in his face such charm, that however much they might gaze,…
13:23…he never worried the eyes of beholders.
13:27Because Mancini was a foreigner,…
13:29…and because he wasn't that close to the main players,…
13:32…I think that he had a bit of distance upon events, and perhaps, therefore, some integrity.
13:38And I think it is a source that's worth taking seriously.
13:42Mancini recounts the extraordinary events of the summer of 1483,…
13:47…when Edward's life is suddenly thrown into turmoil.
14:04Everything had been about preparing him for this moment.
14:09But it came sooner, I think, than anyone was expecting.
14:13Give it to me.
14:16On the 9th of April, 1483,…
14:18…King Edward IV dies, suddenly, after a short illness.
14:24God save the King!
14:27Long live the King!
14:28All eyes turn to his eldest son,…
14:32…who's now King Edward V.
14:40A few years later, Edward would have been seen as an adult,…
14:45…and this story would have been very different.
14:47But he's just 12, when he succeeds to the throne.
15:00Now, in medieval England, the government is a personal monarchy.
15:06Everything revolves around the King.
15:08I think of him as being like the Sun in a solar system.
15:12And all the other nobles are like the planets,…
15:16…circling around him, vying for favors.
15:20But there's a big flaw in this system of government.
15:23And that's when the King dies, and we have this moment of succession.
15:27A power vacuum opened up.
15:29It's like it's the moment of the greatest danger.
15:33And when Edward IV dies, there's a really big problem,…
15:36…because little Edward, his son, is only 12.
15:39He can be on the throne, but he can't really make decisions.
15:42Someone's got to advise him.
15:45And into this power vacuum,…
15:47…step all the members of the council, the late King's advisors.
15:51They're looking around at each other, and sizing each other up,…
15:54…because they know whoever controls the little King…
15:58They know whoever controls the little King…
16:01…actually controls the country.
16:04To understand what happens next, I'm going to rely on Mancini.
16:10Mancini tells us that, in the event of his early death,…
16:14…Edward IV, appointed as protector of his children and realm,…
16:18…his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
16:21If Edward appointed his brother, Richard, to be the protector of his children,…
16:27…he must really have trusted this man.
16:33But not everyone believes Edward is best protected by Richard alone.
16:38While Richard is in York, on the 20th of April,…
16:41…the Royal Council meet in London.
16:45Those most opposed to Richard having power over Edward…
16:49…are the Queen's family, the Woodvilles.
16:53They were afraid that if Richard took unto himself the crown, or even governed alone,…
17:00…they'd suffer death, or at least be ejected from their high estate.
17:05So, were the Queen and her family, the Woodvilles,…
17:10…trying to protect her son from Richard?
17:13Or, was it the other way around?
17:16Was Richard trying to protect little Edward, his nephew, from a Woodville coup?
17:23This real tug of war is now going to begin,…
17:26…and it's going to seal young Edward's fate.
17:30The Woodvilles win the argument.
17:33The Royal Council decide that Richard should not be the young king's sole protector.
17:40They agree to crown Edward within a fortnight, on the 4th of May,…
17:44…a symbolic step that would further diminish Richard's power.
17:50So, on the 9th of April, 1483,…
17:54…Edward IV dies.
17:56By the 6th of July, Richard III is on the throne.
18:01So,…
18:02…what I want to know is what happened in those few vital weeks.
18:15On the 24th of April,…
18:17…two weeks after his father's death,…
18:19…Edward sets off for London, to prepare for his coronation,…
18:24…under the protection of Antony Woodville.
18:27So, Edward was in limbo.
18:30He was traveling from one role, being heir and waiting, to another, being king.
18:36He was stepping into the future.
18:38Next, though, would come the fork in the road of his life.
18:46A few days later, after learning of the Royal Council's decision,…
18:50…Richard leaves York, with an army of 6,000 men,…
18:54…to intercept young Edward.
18:57He catches up with him in Buckinghamshire, at stony Stratford.
19:02The house I'm looking for used to be a coaching inn, but not that one.
19:08Edward spent a night here, in what is now someone's home.
19:14I can see a plaque. I think it might be this one.
19:19– Hello! – Are you Kelly?
19:20– Yes, I am! – You are!
19:21– Hello! Thank you for having me! – Hi!
19:23Did you know, when you came to live here, about it having been where…
19:27– …Edward V had stayed? – We did know!
19:29Yes, we did! We knew some of the history.
19:31We didn't realize quite how passionate everyone is about this house.
19:37So, this is such a significant place in Edward's life,…
19:42…because he was brought here by his tutor,…
19:45…his guardian, his… his uncle,…
19:48…and,…
19:49…well, really, his stand-in father, Antony Woodville,…
19:52…on his way to go to London to be Crown King.
20:00But, Antony Woodville went off up the road,…
20:03But, Antony Woodville went off up the road,…
20:06…in order to spend the evening with Richard,…
20:09…and, as a result of that evening together,…
20:13…Richard decided he was going to move against Antony Woodville.
20:18The following morning, he had him arrested.
20:23So, Edward sat here, in this coaching inn,…
20:26…unaware of what was happening.
20:29Of course, it's true that his fate had always been in the hands of other people,…
20:32…but now this would be made…
20:34…really clear to him,…
20:36…because, that night, he says goodbye to one uncle,…
20:39…Uncle Antony Woodville.
20:40The next morning,…
20:42…his world is completely changed.
20:45He's now placed in the custody of his other uncle, Uncle Richard.
20:50There are two ways of reading this event.
20:52Supporters of Uncle Richard would say, well,…
20:56…he's doing the right thing here.
20:57These Woodvilles are a bad lot.
20:59He's taking his nephew into custody for his own protection.
21:03But the other reading of this is that…
21:06…Richard has decided that the Woodvilles are a threat to himself,…
21:10…an existential threat,…
21:11…and that he needs to act.
21:14In this period, during the Wars of the Roses,…
21:17…there's… there's no…
21:18…there's no sort of peaceful coexistence.
21:20It's dog–eat–dog.
21:22Either you are…
21:25…on the make, winning power, using violence,…
21:28…or…
21:30…you're toast.
21:31Your enemies are going to eat you.
21:35For Edward,…
21:37…it's bad enough being parted from his uncle, Antony Woodville,…
21:40…but it's going to get worse,…
21:44…because…
21:45…Antony Woodville is now put in prison, and is executed.
21:50Edward will, in fact, never see him again.
21:59The next day, the 30th of April,…
22:01…Richard and his army escort Edward to London.
22:06Fearing for the safety of her family,…
22:09…the Queen, Elizabeth Woodville,…
22:11…takes sanctuary at Westminster Abbey,…
22:14…with her youngest son.
22:17When they arrive in the capital,…
22:19…Richard takes Edward directly to the Tower of London.
22:24His coronation, planned for the 4th of May,…
22:28…is postponed.
22:30So, the Tower of London, in the 15th century,…
22:33…wasn't just a prison, and a place of execution, like we think of it today.
22:38It was also…
22:39…a fantastic royal palace.
22:41The place where a king was traditionally got ready for his coronation,…
22:46…which was now definitely going to happen on the 22nd of June.
22:55And there's one piece of evidence, if it's genuine,…
23:00…which would suggest that preparations for Edward's coronation…
23:03…were still on track.
23:10This is all very high security.
23:12And the British Museum has some rare gold coins,…
23:16…which were long believed to have been made for Edward V.
23:19Hello, Barry! Thank you for having me.
23:21Welcome to the Department of Coins and Medals.
23:23Department of Coins and Medals.
23:25Minted in the weeks while he awaited his coronation.
23:29For some people, they're proof that Richard had no intention…
23:33…of murdering his nephew, and stealing the throne.
23:36Ooh!
23:37So, here we've got all the British medieval coins.
23:40English, here. English, specifically.
23:42Edward IV and V. This is our little case.
23:49The trays. Edward IV, Edward IV.
23:50And here we've got the Edward V tray.
23:54– Can I take it right out? – Yes, please.
23:56Put it carefully in both hands.
23:58Look at that!
24:00Look at them sparkle!
24:05What a beautiful thing!
24:08Are these actually Edward V coins?
24:10Not one of them is Edward V.
24:11Not one of them is Edward V!
24:13What's actually going on here, then?
24:16These are coins that were, for a long time, thought to be Edward V.
24:18Yeah.
24:19They were coins that name a king called Edward,…
24:21…but they also have a mint mark that relates to Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
24:24If you look at it, it's a boar's head.
24:26This is a boar's head.
24:28– It's a boar's head. – It's a boar's head.
24:30– It's a boar's head. – It's a boar's head.
24:32– It's a boar's head. – It's a boar's head.
24:34– It's a boar's head. – It's a boar's head.
24:36– It's a boar's head. – There's something there…
24:39Followed by the letter E for Edward.
24:41OK, I'm going to have to take your word for it that that's the head of the boar.
24:44I promise.
24:45The assumption was that these coins belonged to…
24:47…the period when Edward V was regarded as king,…
24:50…and Gloucester was law protector.
24:52And did the British Museum…
24:54…think this for…
24:56…a really long time?
24:57Probably for a century and a half.
24:59The analysis that made it clear they aren't…
25:01– …only happened in the 1990s. – Yeah, yeah.
25:03So, it's my fault this hasn't been changed.
25:05– But it's quite useful to have this group… – I know, it's…
25:07…in this way, so one can have this sort of conversation.
25:10And there has been controversy. People don't like the fact that…
25:12…these aren't Edward V coins.
25:14So, why do you think that these are not Edward V coins?
25:16A very good expert in coins did a complete study…
25:19…of Richard III's coinage, including the Edward V material, as it was then thought to be.
25:23And he was able to demonstrate quite clearly…
25:25…that the coins that name Edward, but that have…
25:28…the boar's head mark of Richard of Gloucester,…
25:30…were issued at the same time as, or even after,…
25:33…some of the coins that name Richard.
25:35So, during those 11 weeks, when Edward had inherited, but wasn't yet crowned,…
25:39…they just kept out turning old Edward IV coins, until…
25:42– Yeah. – …the situation was resolved, and Richard was in charge.
25:44Yes.
25:45So, isn't it interesting that people could have looked at these coins, and thought,…
25:49…yes, these support the argument that they did intend to crown Edward V.
25:54For hundreds of years, people thought that the coins told that story.
25:58Yes, it's… it's a question of how you interpret the information,…
26:01…how you look at the evidence, and how you reinterpret it.
26:03– Mmm. – And they were not necessarily fooled.
26:05– No, no, there's good reason for thinking what they thought. – It's an entirely logical deduction,…
26:09– …an inference from the coinage. – Yeah.
26:10It just happens to be a wrong one.
26:12So, this doesn't tell a clear story,…
26:15…but that's just…
26:18…indicative of this whole slippery, shape-shifty period of history.
26:23I like the way that nothing is what it seems.
26:26Barry, what do you think? Was Richard III guilty of murdering the Princess?
26:30– Oh, absolutely! – Absolutely, Barry says!
26:32I'm not quite sure about that.
26:39The coins may not help decipher Richard's intent to crown Edward,…
26:43…but I've tracked down a remarkable letter.
26:46By the middle of June, tension between Richard,…
26:49…and Edward V's mother, Elizabeth Woodville,…
26:52…still in sanctuary at Westminster, is escalating.
26:56Here it is.
26:57Uncle Richard, the Duke of Gloucester,…
27:00…writes to ask the York citizens to assist him against the Queen.
27:04And he says to them,…
27:07…we heartily pray you to come unto us in London,…
27:11…with all the money that you've got, to aid and assist us against the Queen.
27:17Her blood, adherence, and affinity,…
27:19…daily do intend to murder and utterly destroy us,…
27:24…and the old royal blood of this realm.
27:29What's actually going on here?
27:31Is Richard doing his job?
27:33Asking for help to protect little Edward, as Lord Protector?
27:38Or, is he asking for help to protect himself, and his own ambition?
27:47Within days, Richard convinced the Royal Council…
27:51…that Edward should not be crowned without his younger brother present.
27:55And, as Mancini tells us, he makes a decisive move.
28:01He surrounded the sanctuary with troops.
28:07When the Queen saw herself besieged,…
28:10…she surrendered her son,…
28:13…trusting that the boy should be restored after the coronation.
28:19The heir, and the spare, are now secure in the tower.
28:25But the following day, the coronation is postponed again.
28:31And, goodness me!
28:33The plot is going to thicken!
28:35The next unexpected event is going to happen in here.
28:39Aha!
28:41Here stood Paul's Cross.
28:43This was the spot of a famous preaching place.
28:47It's where people gave public sermons, and…
28:50…sort of gave out official information.
28:52And crowds of thousands of people…
28:55…were gathered to listen.
28:56On the 22nd of June,…
28:58…a preacher called Dr. Shaw dropped a bombshell.
29:02He says that, way back when,…
29:04…Edward IV had got married to Elizabeth Woodville,…
29:08…he was already legally contracted to another wife.
29:13And the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was null and void,…
29:17…which meant…
29:18…that their entire offspring, Fancini says, was unworthy of the kingship.
29:25So, young Edward, the king to be,…
29:28…he was illegitimate!
29:30He was what they would have called…
29:32…a bastard!
29:36Imagine what young Edward must have thought when he heard about this rumor!
29:42He'd gone from about to be king, to being a bastard!
29:46In a single stroke!
29:54Rumor had it that Richard was behind Reverend Shaw's shattering pronouncement.
30:00But we just don't know the truth.
30:02Here's a pass! Thank you!
30:05What's certain is that, once the princes had lost their right to the throne,…
30:10…Richard was next in line.
30:16Some people think this was all part of Richard's evil master plan.
30:21Others, that he had to be persuaded into it, reluctantly.
30:25But, either way, on the 6th of July,…
30:28…it wasn't Edward, but his uncle,…
30:30…who went to Westminster Abbey, to be crowned King Richard III.
30:43As Richard took the throne,…
30:45…the two princes were still in the tower.
30:50In 1483, remember,…
30:52…there was that marvelous royal palace within the walls of the tower,…
30:57…with rich rooms!
30:59And that's where Edward and Richard were housed.
31:02It also had beautiful gardens, where the boys were seen playing together.
31:07And then, what happened next, took place in this building,…
31:12…which the Victorians renamed the Bloody Tower.
31:22Mancini says that all the attendants who had waited upon the king…
31:27…were debarred access to him.
31:34He and his brother were withdrawn into the inner apartments of the tower proper.
31:42And, day by day,…
31:44…began to be seen more rarely behind the bars and windows.
31:50Till, at length,…
31:52…they ceased to appear…
31:55…altogether.
31:59And, despite centuries of investigation and speculation,…
32:05…nobody really knows what happened to them.
32:09There's only one thing we can be completely sure about,…
32:14…which is that, by the end of the summer, the beginning of the autumn, of 1483,…
32:20…the princes were gone.
32:39Richard III's reign was short-lived.
32:43Just two years after taking the throne,…
32:45…he was killed by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth.
32:50The Wars of the Roses ended, and the Tudor dynasty began.
32:55Elizabeth Woodville endured.
32:58She engineered a marriage between one of her daughters and the new Tudor king,…
33:02…creating another Woodville Queen.
33:08I get the feeling that, at the dawn of this new era,…
33:12…the sorry business of the princes was part of a painful chapter…
33:16…that everyone was eager to forget.
33:20Mancini couldn't explain what had happened to them.
33:23But, years later, an account emerged,…
33:26…that appeared to solve the mystery.
33:32Oh! Look at this!
33:34This is a copy, sent to me by the British Library,…
33:38…of an early printed version they've got,…
33:41…of Thomas More's book about Richard III.
33:44It was this piece of writing that inspired Shakespeare to write his play about Richard III.
33:50Now, More wasn't an eyewitness to the events of 1483, when the princes disappear.
33:58More was producing his work in the 1510s,…
34:02…and he draws upon a key piece of evidence from 1502,…
34:07…a man called James Tyrrell was in prison,…
34:11…and there he confessed that he had been told by Richard III to kill the princes.
34:16And he had delegated the job to 2 assassins, whose names were Forrest and Dighton.
34:24Using the detail from Tyrrell's confession,…
34:27…More puts together his famous description of exactly what happened to the boys.
34:33Sir James Tyrrell devised…
34:36…that they should be murdered in their beds.
34:38To the execution whereof, he appointed Miles Forrest,…
34:45…a fellow fleshed in murder before time.
34:49To him, he joined one John Dighton.
34:53This Miles Forrest and John Dighton,…
34:55…about midnight,…
34:57…the Selly children, lying in their beds,…
35:00…came into the chamber,…
35:04…and suddenly lapped them up among the clothes,…
35:06…so bewrapped them and entangled them,…
35:10…keeping down by force the feather bed and pillows, hard unto their mouths,…
35:16…that, within a while,…
35:18…smored and stifled their breath failing,…
35:21…they gave up to God, their innocent souls,…
35:25…into the joys of heaven,…
35:28…leaving to the tormentors, their bodies dead in the bed.
35:36However many times I read that, it's still…
35:39…quite shocking.
35:41Now, some people would say that More only wrote this as a piece of propaganda for the Tudors,…
35:46…to please Henry VIII, whose family had got rid of Richard III.
35:51Other people argue that it's not about Richard III at all,…
35:54…and it's purely a sort of technical exercise in essay writing,…
35:58…a sort of argument against tyranny.
36:01But, the degree…
36:03…of circumstantial detail he gives about the murder…
36:06…convinces some people…
36:09…that this could be a genuine source of information.
36:20Thomas More tells us the murderers buried the boys' bodies…
36:24…at the foot of a staircase in the tower.
36:27In 1674, 200 years later,…
36:31…builders excavating near the same stairs…
36:34…discovered a wooden box containing two small skeletons.
36:40The then king, Charles II, believed these were the princes,…
36:45…and had them interred with proper ceremony, here, in Westminster Abbey.
36:52This is where coronations actually happened.
36:59Politicians, Prime Ministers,…
37:02…Edward I,…
37:05…now we're getting to the really special bits.
37:09I think it's in here.
37:11["The Last Post"]
37:21So, here they are!
37:24Possibly!
37:25Ha, ha!
37:28It's really tempting to believe it's them, because it says so here, on the stone!
37:33Edward V, King of England,…
37:35…and Richard, Duke of York,…
37:38…confined in the Tower of London, and suffocated.
37:43And it seems really fitting that…
37:46…this is about as deep into the Abbey as you can get.
37:50I've come through doors, and arches, and corridors, and layers,…
37:55…and I've gone past all the great kings, and the great queens, and the statesmen,…
38:00…and the princes are concealed here, at the back.
38:05Like the truth about their story,…
38:08…the remains of the princes,…
38:11…if, indeed, these are the remains of the princes,…
38:14…are hidden.
38:25In 300 years, royal permission has only once been granted for the urn to be opened.
38:35In the 1930s, before radiocarbon dating, or DNA profiling,…
38:43…two scientists examined the bones.
38:48This is their report.
38:50It's fascinating!
38:51Could these be…
38:53…the bones of the little boys?
38:55It's chilling to think that this could actually be evidence in a murder investigation!
39:05I'm not sure what to make of it.
39:07But what if the scientists, who examined Richard III's remains,…
39:11…after they were found under the car park,…
39:13…might be able to help?
39:16– Hello! – Hello!
39:18How are you?
39:19Thanks for helping us out with this piece of work!
39:22I've got some…
39:23…serious reservations…
39:25…about this report. So, do you want me to take you through…
39:28– …some of the issues? – Yes, yes, yes!
39:30The first several pages are all about Richard III…
39:33…killing the princes in the tower.
39:35They don't actually come to examining the remains until page 15.
39:40So, this is the lower jaw of the younger child,…
39:42…whom I shall now presume to call Richard.
39:45And then they go and call the other one Edward.
39:47So, within a few paragraphs, they've decided they're going to start calling these…
39:52– …Edward and Richard. – Richard.
39:53So, it feels very much like they've got an idea of what they want the answer to be,…
39:56…and then they're kind of making it fit.
39:59Do you think it's fair to say that these are the bones of two youngish people?
40:04That's completely fair!
40:06They are convinced there's evidence of suffocation.
40:09They're saying, look, there's bloodstain…
40:11– …on the bones of one of the skulls. – Yes!
40:14The interesting thing about the stain is, they do talk about how in the urn are…
40:17…three sets of iron nails.
40:19– Oh! They could have caused the stains! – Quite…
40:21– …really quite easily! – Disappointing!
40:23But he says here, I have no doubt it was a bloodstain!
40:27And they draw on Shakespeare,…
40:29…not a well-known forensic specialist,…
40:31…as the reason why they believe this is true.
40:34See how the blood is settled in his face, and a little later,…
40:38…but see his face is black and full of blood.
40:41It must be true! I've registered a poem!
40:43That's right!
40:44So, if these bones came into your laboratory, Jury, today,…
40:49…what would you do with them? Where would you start?
40:52Let's radiocarbon date them,…
40:53…because, for all we know,…
40:55…these are Roman, Anglo-Saxon. They could be completely the wrong period.
41:01And then, one of the things you can do, is you can use DNA analysis.
41:04– We have Richard III's whole genome now. – Of course you do!
41:07Richard III is their uncle.
41:10– So, we could look for what looks like a 25% sharing. – Ah!
41:14I mean, would you… would you actually like to do that?
41:17Personally, I feel…
41:19…reservations.
41:20I don't like the idea of messing with people who are at rest.
41:23There's huge ethical considerations, because I think…
41:26…to actually go and disturb a set of remains, you have to have a decent…
41:30…ah,… research question.
41:32We'd have to be absolutely clear with ourselves why we wanted to know.
41:35– Yeah, why do you want to know? – And curiosity is not enough!
41:38It's… it's not!
41:39And if you were able to prove that they were the remains of the princes in the tower,…
41:45…where would that leave us? It would show that they hadn't…
41:47…left the tower,…
41:49…that would imply that…
41:52…what Thomas More says about Richard III was true.
41:55– It wouldn't prove it, would it? – It doesn't tell you who killed them.
41:58Do you find it all a bit slippery?
42:00It is, and… and frustratingly slippery!
42:03And this is not…
42:05…the only story about what might have happened to the princes.
42:08Yes!
42:08– I've got something to show you in my office. – Okay.
42:15Right, let me show you something.
42:17– So, these… – A box of…
42:19– …bones! – Box of bones!
42:21– What else would you have in your office? – Of course!
42:24Well, normally, they're kept in the… in the bone lab,…
42:27…but they're about to go back to Soodley Castle.
42:30– Oh, yes! – So, they say, bones discovered,…
42:32…in the 1980s, near the dungeon tower.
42:35So, Richard III owned Soodley Castle.
42:37Bones have been discovered, and so people start to think, ooh!
42:40– Are these the princes? – Are they the princes?
42:44Oh, no!
42:45Loads of them!
42:48So, there were 4 sets of remains that we sent off for radiocarbon dating,…
42:55– And? – …uh,… 18th and 19th century.
42:58– So, yeah! – Well, we can say for sure,…
43:01…these are not the lost princes of the tower!
43:03These are not the lost princes of the tower!
43:06I think the reason you get sent random bones…
43:10…is because people look at this…
43:12…in terms of a murder mystery,…
43:14…and that someone, someday, will solve the crime.
43:18I don't think that's the right way to look at it.
43:20I think that the little princes as being like…
43:23…the Romanos, in the 20th century, people who were killed for political reasons,…
43:28…and whose fate remained unknown, because it was better for the people in power…
43:33…that that's the way it fell out.
43:35It's much better to let sleeping dogs lie!
43:44It's really tempting to look at that urn in Westminster Abbey, and think, yes,…
43:48…that must contain the remains of the princes!
43:51But…
43:52…it's a question that's wide open, really.
43:56In terms of their actual physical human remains, all that we can say about the princes…
44:01…is that they're missing!
44:03They're not necessarily murdered.
44:04They're missing persons!
44:15I know, for some people, this lack of definitive proof…
44:19…means there just aren't grounds to condemn Richard III as a child killer.
44:25The Richard III Society…
44:28…is dedicated to reclaiming the reputation of a much maligned king.
44:34– Matthew Lewis! – Hello, Lucy!
44:36You look very studious, there!
44:38Now, then, let me ask you a question, Matt.
44:43You don't believe that Richard III was guilty, do you?
44:47What's… what's your… what's your argument?
44:49I think, simply, that the case for the prosecution isn't watertight.
44:52You can't prove that Richard III did it.
44:55What we have is two boys who disappear from view in 1483.
44:58We don't really have any strong record that they were killed.
45:02I don't believe the bodies in Westminster Abbey,…
45:04…if they were tested, would turn out to be the princes in the tower.
45:07And I think we have…
45:08…other potential suspects, if we believe they were murdered,…
45:11…but I think we also have really compelling theories that they may well have survived beyond…
45:16…1485, and beyond Richard III's reign.
45:18If this is a murder, and if your guy didn't do it, Richard III,…
45:22…who are the other suspects you'd like to bring to the table?
45:25There are several individuals that we can point directly at.
45:28But the first of them, and perhaps the most widely accepted,…
45:31…is Henry Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham.
45:33Henry Stafford appears at the right-hand side of Richard,…
45:37…as he moves to become King Richard III.
45:39But, by October 1483, he's instigating rebellion against Richard III,…
45:44…I think, to pursue his own claim to the throne of England.
45:47So, does Henry Stafford…
45:49…do away with the princes, as part of his efforts to discredit Richard,…
45:53…and dislodge him?
45:55There are several sources that point to him.
45:57So, this was found as part of a collection of documents, as late as the 1980s,…
46:02…written probably in the early 1500s.
46:04It says that the sons of Edward IV were put to death…
46:07…by the Vise of the Duke of Buckingham.
46:09Vise is a strange medieval word that can be used to mean…
46:14…the Advice, but it can also mean the Device of Henry Stafford.
46:17So, it could have been his plot, his plan,…
46:19…to do away with the princes in the Tower.
46:21Nobody had really looked at that till…
46:24…the 1980s.
46:26It's in a collection of random documents to do with heraldry, here at the College of Arms,…
46:30…and someone just came across it.
46:31It's a really good example of how…
46:33…some of these key pieces of evidence…
46:35…can just be lying around somewhere, hidden, not yet being turned up.
46:39Interesting!
46:40So, we've looked at the Duke of Buckingham.
46:42This is… Well, this is Henry…
46:44…Henry VII, isn't it?
46:45So, believing that he's in any way involved…
46:47…means that they were alive in 1485, and when he becomes King, he finds them alive.
46:51Right! So, in this case, the princes survive into the reign of Richard III,…
46:56…and Henry Tudor does them in later.
46:58He does, because he has to…
47:00…to be able to take the throne himself.
47:01What's interesting is, almost anyone who is in power,…
47:05…and in London, in the early to mid 1480s,…
47:08…could have had an interest in doing away with the princes.
47:11Now, you personally don't believe that they were even killed, do you?
47:16– I don't. – What do you think happened to them, then?
47:18I think…
47:19…that there's a strong likelihood that at least one of them was moved to the north of England,…
47:23…into one of Richard's castles, packed with men loyal to him,…
47:26…and who he could trust to look after these princes,…
47:29…to keep them secret, and keep them out of the way, so they couldn't be used against Richard.
47:33We do have…
47:34…two pretenders who come along to threaten Henry VII, the first Tudor king.
47:40The first one, that comes along in 1487, is known to history as Lambert Simnel.
47:44So, this would be the actual prince, having survived?
47:47He's the right age. He's 16 at this point.
47:50Good age to be crowned, and to lead an army.
47:52So, if this was the older boy, coming back as the pretender, Lambert Simnel,…
47:57…what possibly happened to his younger brother?
48:00Well, the second pretender, who arrives in the early 1490s, is Perkin Warbeck.
48:04And he comes to a sorry end, doesn't he?
48:06He does! He has this kind of glittering career in the early 1490s,…
48:10…convincing the crowned heads of Europe that he's really Prince Richard,…
48:14…that he should be King Richard IV.
48:16But he ends up being captured as part of an invasion of England.
48:19He's executed in 1499.
48:21So, it's your belief that the boys survived?
48:24I believe that they survived beyond 1485, and went on to challenge Henry VII,…
48:28…and that he dealt with that challenge by covering it up.
48:32You see, I believe that you've done your research.
48:34I just worry that you've been attracted to an exciting story,…
48:37…with a heroic narrator, and an unexpected ending.
48:40That's my fear for you, Matt.
48:41It's definitely an interesting story, if it's true,…
48:43…but I think the key here is following the evidence.
48:46What I just worry about is the… the idea…
48:52…that you… that you, and a lot of other people, still treat this as a detective story,…
48:56…and we want somebody to hang a guilty label on.
48:58And that's… that's human nature.
49:01It isn't necessarily the way that history works, though.
49:03But it's so interesting, because the sources say such ambiguous things.
49:08You and I could pick up the same piece of original source material,…
49:12…and come to a completely different conclusion.
49:14Yeah.
49:14There are few stories where things are that ambiguous, and have that much space in them,…
49:19…to investigate further, and to feel like there must be more to learn.
49:27One thing I agree with Matt about, is the ambiguity of the evidence.
49:34Sir James Tyrrell devised that they should be murdered in their beds.
49:39Maybe new clues will come to light.
49:42But until then,…
49:43…I think the key to this mystery is to interrogate the sources we have.
49:48To the executioner of,…
49:49…he appointed Miles Forrest.
49:52To him, he joined one John Dighton.
49:57Thomas More's account includes such specific detail…
50:02…about the night of the Prince's murder.
50:05I want to know if what he tells us can be verified,…
50:09…and if More can be trusted.
50:12So, this is Buckfast Abbey. It's my first visit.
50:16Hello?
50:17Can I go on in?
50:23I'm here to find out about some exciting new research into More's text.
50:29But first, I want to see an extraordinary religious relic.
50:35Thomas More was a devout Catholic.
50:38Henry VIII had him executed for opposing his plan to reform the Church.
50:43– May I come in? – You may, indeed.
50:45And as an act of religious devotion, he often wore…
50:48…catholic robes, like this one.
50:51And as an act of religious devotion, he often wore,…
50:54…concealed beneath his clothes,…
50:55…a painfully coarse goat hair shirt.
51:00Is this really it?
51:02This is really it.
51:06I just feel a huge inbuilt skepticism about the exact nature,…
51:10…not just of holy relics, but of all, you know, secular relics,…
51:14…anything that is said to be…
51:16…the hat of Henry VIII, the hat of Cardinal Wolsey.
51:20It's a remarkable object, because it's highly possible,…
51:23…in fact, it's certain, in your eyes, that that touched the skin…
51:28…of a man who was alive 500 years ago.
51:30What happened was, he was beheaded on the 6th of July, 1535.
51:36And the day before, he gave this hair shirt…
51:40…to his adopted daughter, Margaret Giggs.
51:42And it then passed to the Diocese of Plymouth.
51:45The Diocese of Plymouth then asked us to…
51:47…to… to have it here for public veneration.
51:50These are all verifiable historical events.
51:53Hmm.
51:54And that makes it a very significant relic, I think.
51:57What sort of a person does his hair shirt say that he was, then?
52:01This is something that he chose to wear,…
52:05…because he identifies with Christ,…
52:07…and Christ suffered on the cross.
52:10Wearing this every day is a very close connection with the sufferings of Christ.
52:15That's a really different world view, isn't it?
52:18A lot of people would say that Thomas More's book,…
52:21…about the rise of Richard III, is pro–Tudor propaganda.
52:26I suppose, if he's someone as committed to his faith…
52:30…as to do something like this on a regular basis,…
52:33…he's not going to be bullied by worldly authority in any way, is he?
52:37I think the fact that he would not go along with Henry VIII…
52:39…on becoming the head of the Church in this country,…
52:41…would certainly indicate that.
52:43He was willing to put his life on the line.
52:44I think that's a massive argument against him having been purely a propagandist.
52:49Yes, I… I… I think… I think his character, his life,…
52:52…his writings, all indicate that he was interested in what is fair, what is just.
53:02So, if Thomas More was interested in the truth,…
53:05…he must have trusted his sources.
53:10One historian has taken a new approach,…
53:13…to verify information.
53:16More claim to have got from James Tyll's confession.
53:20– Hello! – Hello, Lucy!
53:21I'm excited to meet you!
53:23It's good to meet you, too!
53:24This is a really splendid library, isn't it?
53:26Yeah, I love libraries, but this just has a fantastic atmosphere, doesn't it?
53:30Tim, how on earth is it possible that you've managed to find…
53:32…a new avenue of investigation? What was your approach?
53:36Well, this is the most, um,… investigated mystery…
53:40…of the late Middle Ages.
53:43For most people, the summer or the autumn of 1483 is where the story ends.
53:47But I think, in truth,…
53:49…the summer or the autumn of 1483 is where the story begins.
53:52And if we're really going to understand what happened,…
53:55…we need to look what happened next.
53:56And I think one of the fascinating things about More's account is that central to it are…
54:01…several people who are…
54:02…survivors into the period when he was writing, in the 1510s.
54:06And what I wanted to explore was the possibility…
54:09…that More had direct access to those individuals.
54:12So, you wanted to put More and his sources…
54:17…in the same place, at the same time, or at least in close contact with each other?
54:20Indeed.
54:21So, if we look at the text of More, you can see that…
54:25…he's providing us with the names of the murderers.
54:28Miles Forrest, and John Dighton.
54:30Are they real? Is there evidence for them? What have you been able to uncover?
54:34So, these are real people.
54:35John Dighton, and also the two sons of Miles Forrest, Edward and Miles.
54:40They were active at the court of Henry VIII,…
54:43…in the 1510s, just as More was active at court.
54:47So, what I was doing was looking for all the evidence I could for More's activities in the 1510s,…
54:52…when he was writing the history of King Richard III,…
54:55…and his connections to John Dighton,…
54:57…and also the two sons of Miles Forrest.
55:00And what established the connection between More, doing his research,…
55:04…and these people who were witnesses?
55:06It was a bit of a eureka moment, really!
55:08I came across this letter, from 1515,…
55:12…er,… when More was on embassy,…
55:15…er,… in Bruges, in the Low Countries,…
55:17…and the embassy are exchanging messages, back and forth, from…
55:21…er,… England.
55:23And so, you can see, in this letter,…
55:25…More's signature, on the foot.
55:27Thomas More, he was there.
55:29Fascinating!
55:30But the messenger, who's referred to in the second line,…
55:34…is 1 M. Forrest.
55:38So, this is one of the sons…
55:40…of the man that More says killed the princes in the town.
55:44Miles Forrest.
55:50It was one of those moments, I'm afraid, for a historian, that makes the…
55:53…the hair stand up on the back of your neck, because it… it puts him in the same place,…
55:57…at the same time, as one of his key witnesses.
56:00Where were you, when this happened?
56:02Were you in the reading room, where you have to be quiet? And you went, yes!
56:04Er,… I did restrain myself.
56:06But, yes, I came across it…
56:08…among the… the records in the National Archives.
56:11And I think it increases the credibility of More's account significantly.
56:16So, this letter proves that, just at the time…
56:19…that More was writing his history,…
56:22…he was personally in contact,…
56:24…face to face,…
56:25…with the son…
56:27– …of one of the murderers, from 1484. – Indeed.
56:30So, it's perfectly possible that he said, well,…
56:33…my dad did it. He did the deed.
56:38There's a lot of ifs and buts here,…
56:41…but what you have done is make it more…
56:45…comprehensible that More is, in fact, telling the truth.
56:49You've sort of built up the foundations of his credibility a bit more.
56:52I think we've demonstrated very clearly where the sources…
56:55…potentially lay for…
56:57…what's previously been considered a…
56:59…potentially speculative, or even deliberately deceptive, account.
57:04Hmm.
57:13You know, I've been really convinced by Tim,…
57:15…that Thomas More was…
57:18…a truth teller, one of the first people…
57:20…to try to find out what had happened to the princes.
57:24I'm persuaded that Richard III did have them murdered.
57:28But I think we get much too caught up in the guilt,…
57:31…or not,…
57:32…of wicked Uncle Richard.
57:34It seems to me…
57:36…to be much more interesting to look at the deaths of these boys…
57:39…as part of the cutthroat,…
57:42…kill-or-be-killed, game-of-thrones political culture of the 15th century.
57:48If you were an heir to the throne,…
57:51…you were nothing more than a pawn…
57:54…in the game of power.
57:56And being a child…
57:58…made no difference at all.
58:02This is still an active case for historians.
58:06So many of us are out there, still looking for evidence.
58:10And maybe new clues will surface,…
58:13…that settle the matter once and for all.
58:15But it's the nature of history that it's never fixed.
58:20It speaks to us in different ways, at different times.
58:24And that's why I think this story…
58:26…is set to run and run.
58:34The madness of King George.
58:37How did one woman's attempt to kill the king…
58:40…inspire a change in attitudes towards mental health?
58:46It caused a scandal!
58:47People were offended by this idea of a double standard,…
58:50…for rich and for poor.