New evidence suggests ‘princes in the tower’ may have escaped from prison and fled to Europe instead of being killed
- It is now believed that the princes were killed by their uncle Richard III
New evidence suggests that the Tower princes may have avoided prison and fled to Europe rather than be killed.
This contrasts with the current belief that both boys, sons of Edward IV, were murdered by their uncle Richard III in a bid to get closer to the throne.
Shakespeare dramatizes this theory in his famous play about the Machiavellian king, in which Richard sends orders to kill his young relatives in the Tower of London.
Amateur historian Philippa Langley, who is credited with finding Richard’s remains under a car park in Leicester, has now revealed a series of “extraordinary discoveries” to support her theory that the princes escaped. Telegraph.
He believes that the real princes were two boys rejected as claimants to the throne – Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. Each of these boys initiated unsuccessful attempts to overthrow Henry VII in the late 15th century.
New evidence suggests the Tower princes (pictured) may have escaped from prison and fled to Europe rather than be killed
Both princes disappeared from the records in 1483 after being taken to the Tower of London.
Human remains found under the stairs in the Tower in the 17th century were identified as those of the princes and transported to Westminster Abbey. They were never subjected to DNA testing.
Ms Langley said documents pulled from European archives showed the princes’ flight and subsequent attempts to invade England.
One piece of evidence is the apparent witness statement of Richard, the youngest of the two princes, who was nine years old at the time of his disappearance.
Written ten years later, the author recalls being taken from the Tower by Henry and Thomas Percy.
“They shaved my hair, put a miserable, dirty shirt on me and we went to St. Katharine’s [dock]” – we read in the document.
In Shakespeare’s play Richard III, the Machiavellian monarch sends his two nephews to die in the Tower of London (pictured) to get closer to the throne
The account then states that they took a boat to Boulogne-sur-Mer before going to Portugal.
Experts have confirmed that it was written during this period.
Another document, dated 1483 and possibly bearing the signature of “Richard, Duke of York”, states that Richard would pay Prince Albert of Saxony 30,000 florins within a few months of assuming the English throne.
Philippa Langley and Rob Rinder host new Channel 4 documentary Princes in the Tower.
The evidence was revealed in the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Princes in the Tower: The New Evidence’, which will be broadcast on Saturday.
