Cold Case Reopened: The Princes in the Tower (7 page)

9
th
April 1484

Richard III's only son Edward of Middleham dies at Middleham Castle.

Summer 1484

Elizabeth Woodville has emerged from sanctuary.

November 1484

It is clear to all that the queen, Anne Neville, is seriously unwell.

Late 1484 and Early 1485

A relationship develops between Richard III and Elizabeth of York. Rumours begin to circulate that the king was poisoning his wife to marry his niece.

16
th
March 1485

Total eclipse of the sun.

Anne Neville dies.

Rumours of the poisoning of the queen pick up pace.

Easter 1485
 

Richard III makes public declaration that he is not planning to marry his niece.

May 1485
 

Elizabeth of York is sent to Sheriff Hutton.

1
st
August 1485

Henry Tudor sets sail from Harfleur.

7
th
August 1485

Henry Tudor lands in Milford Haven and sets march for the Midlands.

21
st
August 1485

Richard III leaves Leicester to intercept Henry Tudor.

22
nd
August 1485

The Battle of Bosworth.

Lord Stanley's intervention at the last moment wins the battle for his step-son.

Richard III is killed on the battlefield and his body is taken, naked, to Leicester.

Henry Tudor is crowned with Richard's battle crown by Lord Stanley.
 

23
rd
or 24
th
August 1485

Sir Roger Willoughby is sent by Henry VII to Sheriff Hutton to ensure the safety of Elizabeth of York and to escort her to Westminster.

The Earl of Warwick was to be escorted to the Tower of London.

25
th
August 1485

John of Gloucester, the bastard son of Richard III is taken into custody.

30
th
October 1485

Henry VII is crowned in Westminster Abbey.

Sometime in November 1485

A quiet search was made in the Tower for the bodies of the princes. No details on how this search was handled are available.

11
th
November 1485

Parliament sits and Titulus Regius is repealed and struck from the Statute Books.

18
th
January 1486

Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York at Westminster Abbey.

A list of suspects for the murder needs to be drawn up.

This is a case that has been investigated for hundreds of years and, as such, the usual suspects always come up. However, my police training tells me not to discard anyone who could potentially gain from the death of the victims. Of course, in the real world murders don't only occur for gain. However, in this case we can exclude crimes of passion and we can also exclude senseless, indiscriminate murder. This was a “gain” driven crime by someone who would benefit from it in some way. In drawing up my list of suspects I have attempted to produce a list that includes everyone who could benefit from the princes' deaths. This means including anyone, despite names appearing that might seem improbable.

In writing that last sentence I am drawn to the famous line, delivered by the world's greatest fictional detective, Sherlock Homes.

“When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

Improbability is no guarantee of innocence.

Of course, when drawing up this list of suspects, I am not suggesting for a moment that the individual named actually physically committed the act himself or herself. These were rich, wealthy and powerful people who all had a string of willing servants only too glad to commit dirty acts if there was a promise of a fine reward at the end. Consider them wealthy people employing a hit man, if you would.

1. Establishing Motivation
   

When investigating a murder case the police like to determine who had a motive to kill the victims. You already know this; you have watched hundreds of crime-based television shows and films over the years. Statistics tell us that of the thousands of murders committed worldwide every year very few are motiveless. By determining who had motivation to kill the princes we establish a list of candidates.

We don't know when the murders took place. As we have no identified bodies we could technically assume that this would be any time between late June 1483 and the end of any natural life which could make it as late as 1560. However, that is far too lengthy a period to consider. Statistics also tell us that murders do happen very swiftly after a person goes missing. If we assume that the bones found in the White Tower are the princes, then based on the dental evidence we can assume that that the death could have occurred any time from late June 1483 to 1487.
 
Who would have wanted the Princes dead in this timeframe?

Our list is short and to the point, and we will debate the points later on. Our list includes figures that are not traditionally included in a list of suspects.

The suspects in my case are:

Richard III of England

Anne Neville Queen of England

Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham

Margaret Beaufort, Countess Stanley

Henry VII of England

Elizabeth of York, Queen of England

Elizabeth Woodville, Dowager Queen of England
 

1. Richard III
   

Motivation
– One of the easiest motivations to establish. Richard wanted the crown for himself and both the boys were in front of him in the line of succession. This was the Wars of the Roses, rebellions were frequent and almost expected. Whilst the boys were alive they would always be figureheads for any potential rebellion. They would also be a focus for the Woodvilles to try to reclaim power. Whilst they lived people would also say that Richard was not the rightful king. However, if the boys were dead then this would completely remove this problem.

Points Against –
Richard already had the crown, it was not as though he had to remove them to claim it. Salic law was not in place in England. If Richard was worried that the sons of Edward IV would be a figurehead for any rebellion then why not the daughters? However, instead of imprisonment and death, his nieces were all embraced at court, especially Elizabeth of York. Titulus Regius had been passed in 1484, all the children of Edward IV were illegitimate, and legally the boys were no threat.
 

1. Anne Neville
   

Motivation
– Not a traditional suspect. However, she was now Queen of England, a position she would have been keen to keep. As such she cannot be discounted from the investigation. Her motivations would have been very similar to those of her husband's. However, Anne may also have been driven by the desire to wish to protect the crown for her son, Edward of Middleham. Edward died in April 1484, so if this was her motivating factor then she would have to have acted prior to this date. Another factor to consider is that Anne probably knew only too well that she was slowly dying. Could this have been a mother's way to secure a lasting legacy for her only child?
 

Points Against -
Despite being the daughter of the infamous
“Kingmaker,”
Anne was never at the forefront of politics. Would she have been able to persuade someone to commit the crime knowing that Richard had probably not sanctioned the move? It is hard to tell.
 
It is a telling factor that Anne Neville has never been considered a serious suspect by historians.

1. Duke of Buckingham
   

Motivation
– Buckingham could have acted in order to gain further reward from Richard III. However, Buckingham himself also had a strong claim to the throne; he may have seen the removal of the princes as another step in realising that claim. In addition, he could have seen the murder as a way of souring public opinion against Richard and setting the mood for an uprising in his own name.

Points Against -
Buckingham never really pushed his claim for the throne as much as he could. He even agreed to support Henry Tudor's cause after falling out with Richard. In addition he was already the wealthiest man in the land; would the promise of further reward really have had such a bearing?

1. Margaret Beaufort
   

Motivation
– Margaret Beaufort was the mother of Henry Tudor. She lived her life with the solid belief that the House of Lancaster should rule and that one day her son would be King of England. She plotted with Elizabeth Woodville to arrange the marriage of her son to Elizabeth of York – this would be a marriage that would unite the two principal claims to the throne. If the princes were alive they would be seen as barriers to her son's rule – they both leapfrog Henry Tudor and Elizabeth of York in the succession. Would it not make sense to arrange the death of the princes in the tower?

Points Against –
Margaret was already dicing with death after being put under house arrest after plotting with Elizabeth Woodville. In addition her lands were forfeit and given to her husband, Lord Stanley. At this stage Stanley was making the appearance of being loyal to Richard. Would Margaret Beaufort really have the means to be able to get people into the Tower of London to commit the act?

1. Henry VII
   

Motivation –
If the princes were still alive after Bosworth they would present a threat to the new king. The threat would be just as real as the one posed by the princes to Richard III. In fact, the boys would be more of a threat as Henry proposed to repeal Titulus Regius so that Elizabeth of York's legitimacy could not be doubted. Furthermore Henry had the added advantage of being able to complete the murder and lay the blame firmly on the door of his predecessor.

Points Against
– the fact that Henry Tudor wasn't even in the country during the first two years that the princes had been reported missing is a significant piece of evidence that he didn't commit the murders. Murders generally do occur very soon after the actual abduction. A new king would have required a very trusted source to complete this task otherwise rumour would immediately blacken the name of the new monarch. At his stage Henry had very few trusted men. Therefore Jasper Tudor or his step-father, Lord Stanley are the two who would have been most probable for this task.

Elizabeth of York

Motivation -
the promise of a crown is a highly motivating force. Elizabeth of York was in a very strange position after she emerged from sanctuary. She was a leading claimant to the throne in her own right and she was obviously being courted by her own uncle, Richard III. In addition, her mother was plotting to marry her to Henry Tudor who was about to invade. Whoever won, Elizabeth of York would be queen. Unless someone rebelled in favour of her brothers locked in the tower. The removal of the princes would remove that problem.

Points Against -
Elizabeth of York was in sanctuary when her brothers disappeared, and this would have been the most likely time for the murders to take place. Even when she was being courted by Richard III, she had no real influence at court. Would she have had the means to carry out the task? No serious historian has ever pointed the finger at Elizabeth of York as a potential suspect.

1. Elizabeth Woodville
   

Motivation -
Elizabeth Woodville has always shown a remarkable instinct for self-preservation. After she agreed to come out of sanctuary she may have decided that the restoration of her sons was practically impossible. She may have seen that her only chance of survival and regaining at least some influence was with her daughter. She may have decided to remove obstacles that stood in the way of Elizabeth of York becoming queen.

Points Against -
Elizabeth had always shown a great deal of love for her whole family. She always ensured that everyone was well looked after in terms of favourable marriages and key positions. Could she really murder her own sons?

Henry VII had won his crown at Bosworth just over two months before his first parliament sat. The most significant act of Henry's new parliament was to repeal Titulus Regius. However, Titulus Regius wasn't just repealed: Henry VII attempted to wipe it from the face of the Earth.

The repeal meant that all of the children of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville were once more legitimate and Edward V had been the rightful king. Henry undertook this procedure as his own claim to the throne was extremely weak. By marrying Elizabeth of York, who was once again legitimate, he was shoring up his right to the throne. If some people disputed his claim to the throne by personal right, then the same people could hardly dispute it as consort to the rightful queen. Either way, Henry was king!
 

However, in repealing Titulus Regius Henry was making a massive statement. He was saying that the Princes in the Tower were dead. If they weren't, then Edward V should have been restored to the throne.

If Henry wasn't convinced that the princes were dead then he must have been taking a massive gamble on the repealing of Titulus Regius. As soon as news of the repeal had reached either of the princes they could have appeared out of hiding to assert claim their throne. As Henry's own Parliament had said that they were the rightful heirs, Henry would have had little choice but to stand aside or fight. This was in effect what the pretender Perkin Warbeck attempted to do. The success of Warbeck's campaign shows just how easy it would have been for either Prince to claim back the throne.