The Killer of the Princes in the Tower: A New Suspect Revealed

by M. J. Trow

Overview

The disappearance of two boys during the summer of 1483 has never been satisfactorily explained. They were Edward, Prince of Wales, nearly thirteen at the time, and his brother, Richard of York, nearly ten. With their father, Edward IV, dying suddenly at forty, both boys had been catapulted into the spotlight of fifteenth-century politics, which was at once bloody and unpredictable.

Thanks to the work of the hack ‘historians’ who wrote for Henry VII, the first Tudor, generations grew up believing that the boys were murdered and that the guilty party was their wicked uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Richard crowned himself King of England in July 1483, at which time the boys were effectively prisoners in the Tower of London.

After that, there was no further sign of them.

Over the past 500 years, three men in particular have been accused of the boys’ murders – Richard of Gloucester; Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond; and Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. The evidence against them would not stand up in a court of law today, but the court of history is much less demanding and most fingers remain pointed squarely at Richard of Gloucester.

This book takes a different approach, the first to follow this particular line of enquiry. It is written as a police procedural, weighing up the historical evidence without being shackled to a particular ‘camp’. The supposition has always been made that the boys were murdered for political reasons. But what if that is incorrect? What if they died for other reasons entirely? What if their killer had nothing to gain politically from their deaths at all?

And, even more fascinatingly, what if the princes in the Tower were not the only victims?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526797216
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	02/29/2024
Pages:	248
Sales rank:	610,680
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x (d)

About the Author

M.J. Trow was educated as a military historian at King’s College, London and is probably best known today for his true crime and crime fiction works. He has always been fascinated by Richard III and, following on from Richard III in the North, also by Pen and Sword, has hopefully finally scotched the rumour that Richard III killed the princes in the Tower. He divides his time between homes in the Isle of Wight and the Land of the Prince Bishops.

Table of Contents

Prologue - The Coldest of Cold Cases vi

Part 1 The Crime

Chapter 1 The Tragedy of King Richard III 2

Chapter 2 'Under a Heape of Stones and Rubbish' 14

Chapter 3 CSI: Westminster Abbey 24

Chapter 4 The Boys Who Would be King 33

Chapter 5 The Bastardy of Edward's Children 47

Chapter 6 The Lost Boys 60

Chapter 7 Sometimes They Come Back 70

Part 2 The Usual Suspects

Chapter 8 Richard III 84

Chapter 9 Henry VII 94

Chapter 10 Harry of Buckingham 99

Part 3 The Unusual Suspects

Chapter 11 The Cat and the Rat: Richard's Adherents 106

Chapter 12 'Divers and Sundry Ways': Henry's Adherents 126

Chapter 13 The Outsiders 136

Part 4 The Solution

Chapter 14 'A Strasbourg Doctor…' 146

Chapter 15 Victims for Sacrifice 168

Chapter 16 The Dark Triad 180

Chapter 17 The Once and Future King 200

Chapter 18 The Poisoned Chalice 212

Bibliography 230

Index 232