King Edward V of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2016

by Unknown artist, oil on panel, 1590-1610

King Edward V by unknown artist, oil on panel, 1597-1618, NPG 4980(11) © National Portrait Gallery, London (Note: Not a contemporary portrait)

Immortalized as one of the “Princes in the Tower,” King Edward V of England, along with disputed monarchs Empress Matilda and Lady Jane Grey, and King Edward VIII who abdicated in 1936, is one of the four British monarchs since the Norman Conquest who were never crowned. Edward V was the third child, but the eldest son of the Yorkist King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. From October 1470 – April 1471, when the Lancastrian King Henry VI regained power, King Edward IV and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) fled to Burgundy where they knew they would be welcomed by their sister Margaret, the wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Elizabeth Woodville and her children sought sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth’s first son, the future, but short-lived, King Edward V, was born there on November 2, 1470.

Edward had nine siblings:

Edward had two half-siblings from his mother’s first marriage to Sir John Grey of Groby:

In 1471, after his father was restored to the throne, Edward was created Prince of Wales. A household was established for him at Ludlow Castle near the Welsh border and King Edward IV created the Council of Wales and the Marches to counsel and act on behalf of his young son. Young Edward’s maternal uncle Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers was appointed Governor of the Prince of Wales’ household. King Edward IV set up a regime for educating the Prince of Wales, including how the household should be run and how the household staff should behave. An agreement had been made in 1480 with Francis II, Duke of Brittany for Edward to marry Anne of Brittany, who would become the Sovereign Duchess of Brittany upon her father’s death.

On April 9, 1483, King Edward IV died, several weeks before his 41st birthday. 12-year-old Edward received the news of his father’s death at Ludlow Castle on April 14, 1483. King Edward IV had named his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester Edward’s Lord Protector. The new king, King Edward V, set off for London with a party that included his uncle Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers and his half-brother from his mother’s first marriage, Sir Richard Grey.  King Edward V and his party were intercepted by his paternal uncle and Lord Protector, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who was coming from York. Richard feared that the Woodvilles would attempt to take control of the young king. Anthony Woodville and Richard Grey were arrested and executed. The Duke of Gloucester had his nephew brought to the Tower of London on May 19, 1483, to await his coronation, which never happened. The widowed Elizabeth Woodville and her children once again sought sanctuary at Westminster Abbey, fearing the Duke of Gloucester’s further actions. Cardinal Thomas Bouchier persuaded Elizabeth to let her second son Richard, Duke of York leave sanctuary and join his lonely brother at the Tower of London. Richard joined his brother on June 16, 1483.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester was informed by an unknown clergyman, probably Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, that Edward IV’s marriage was invalid because he had previously contracted to marry Lady Eleanor Butler, who was living when the marriage to Elizabeth took place. This made Edward IV and Elizabeth’s children illegitimate and upheld Richard’s claim to the throne. The citizens of London drew up a petition asking Richard to assume the throne, which he agreed to on June 26, 1483. On July 6, 1483, Richard and his wife Anne Neville were crowned in Westminster Abbey. The Titulus Regius, enacted by Parliament in 1484 officially declared Edward IV’s children illegitimate.

Edward and his brother Richard were seen less and less until the end of the summer of 1483 when they disappeared from public view altogether. Their fate is unknown and remains one of history’s greatest mysteries. There are several theories, and the most plausible lay blame on King Richard III (the former Duke of Gloucester), Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, or King Henry VII.

On August 22, 1485, Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field and became King Henry VII, the first Tudor king of England. Elizabeth of York and Henry VII married on January 18, 1486, at the Palace of Westminster. Henry VII had Parliament repeal Titulus Regius, the act that declared King Edward IV’s marriage invalid and his children illegitimate, thereby legitimizing his wife. The Tudor Rose, a combination of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York, symbolized the new House of Tudor.

Workers remodeling at the Tower of London in 1674 dug up a wooden box containing two small human skeletons. The bones were found buried 10 feet under the staircase leading to the chapel in the White Tower. Presuming the remains were those of King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, King Charles II ordered the remains placed in an urn in Westminster Abbey. In 1933, the remains were removed from the urn and examined. The conclusion was that the bones belonged to two children around the correct ages for the princes. This examination has been criticized with one of the issues being no attempt was made to determine if the remains were male or female. There has been no further examination and the remains are still in the urn in Westminster Abbey.

The urn in Westminster Abbey containing the supposed remains of King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1789, workers doing repairs in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle accidentally broke into the vault of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Adjoining that vault was another vault, which contained the coffins of two children, and was inscribed with the names of two of Edward IV’s children who had predeceased him, George, 1st Duke of Bedford, who had died at age two, and Mary of York who had died at age 14. However, during the 1810 – 1813 construction of the Royal Tomb House in St. George’s Chapel, two other coffins clearly labeled as George Plantagenet and Mary Plantagenet were discovered and moved into Edward IV’s adjoining vault. Especially after the excavation and positive identification of King Richard III’s remains, this leads us to question exactly whose remains are in those four coffins. However, the royal approval required for any testing of an interred royal has not been granted.

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