Opening The Coffin Of The Princes In The Tower

One of the biggest mysteries in English History is what happened to the two Princes in the Tower? These were Edward V and his brother Richard the Duke of York who disappeared inside the Tower of London. But during the reign of King Charles II two skeletons were discovered under a staircase and it was assumed these belonged to the boys. But the King ordered the remains to be placed inside of a tomb within Westminster Abbey, but in the 20th century this tomb was opened and what was found was shocking.

Join us as we look at, 'Inside The Tomb Of The Princes In The Tower'

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[roberthossen]

Thank you for this piece of history! I hope King Charles now will give permission to examine the bones, which hopefully conclusively results in evidence of their royal descent.

[annettefournier]

I've always found this so odd. Two royal children do not vanish into thin air.

[maryellencook]

I really hope that HM King Charles III will allow the DNA analysis on the bones. It will not change history, but it could lay to rest the question of who they are.

[debbierowley]

They don’t have a coffin, neither as it been confirmed that the bones belong to the Princes.

[cordeliaadams]

I hope KCIII will let scientists solve this mystery.

[Henry]

They never were the princes in the tower. They were the king and the prince in the tower.

[QueenofArgyle]

This was always an intriguing mystery. For all anyone knows, their remains could be in Any number of other burial vaults belonging to the royals. Also heard a story that they were taken away to a foreign place to perish. We’ll never really find out.

[jpr]

We tend to forget that the Tower of London was a Royal palace and fortress. There would have been many people living there as guards, or servants etc. Between when the Tower was built and when the bodies where found about 600 years later, many people including children (kitchen boys, stable boys, pages etc) probably died there from illness or accidents. The bodies where found under a staircase, I assume it would have been s stone staircase and it can't be easy to just bury a body under a stone staircase. The bodies could have been the princes (though the ages are not quite right for the princes) but they could just as easily been those of boys who were part of the team building the Tower back in the 11th/12th Centaury. Unless scientific tests for DNA and/or dating tests are done, we have no way of knowing.
I read somewhere that Queen Elizabeth II didn't want to open the door to people wanting to dig up her ancestors for DNA testing just because it was possible to do DNA testing. You can see her point!

[lynnwalker]

Nobody knows were these childrens remains are who perished ❤
Amen ..

[amyKallensandoval]

May Their sweet young hearts and souls 😢😢😢 rest in peace ❤❤❤

[jamiemcvay]

I DON’T think their bodies are in the urn. That was really botched - mixing them with animal bones and not preserving them separately in coffins.

[vivianlidberg]

I believe Margaret of Beaufort knows what happened to them

[icebergrose]

King Charles has to give permission for DNA analysis. I really hope he will, what a mystery solved, maybe.

[renab]

This is amazing information and to me, unsurprising 😢

[NinaHansen]

I think King Charles should certainly allow DNA analysis.

[gregorymartin]

If I was the murderer I would not be hanging about taking all the time and trouble to dig a grave when the Thames was a short walk away...

[Doglady]

Well, , how many children are said to have gone missing in the tower? Was it common to have children held in the tower? Are there records of others? The answers to these questions would definitely narrow down the odds of them being the princes.

[joyplummeridge]

It was the custom during the era in which the tower was built to inter living children in the foundations of buildings, it was often infants, but any orphan child would have been chosen, and older ones would have been drugged or knocked unconcious. Because of where the bones were found it has always been assumed that these are the bones of the Princes. Much of the story of Richard the third killing them comes down to us from Shakespere, who was writing under a Tudor Queen. People forget that it wasn't just Richard who would have benefitted if the boys died, Henry Tudor would have also, and no doubt he had his spies in Richard's court, just as Richard had his in Henry's. If the boys were murderded it is just as likely they were actually killed on the orders of Henry, to give him a clear run at the throne.

[HannibalFan]

Determining whether or not the mysterious remains were or were not the Princes would have had no bearing on the legitimacy of Elizabeth II's claim to the throne. After the Plantagenets, the Tudors usurped the throne. (Henry VII was descended from two bastard lines.) Their dynasty lasted only three generations, passing to the Stewarts after Elizabeth I. After the Stewart's, the Hanoverians were invited in. That makes at least three breaks in succession between the Plantagenets and the Windsors.

[martinisherwood]

They didn't just go missing they were seen playing on Tower grounds, and then they went missing. The late queen would not let an interred remains be unrested.