History

Edward was born at Westminster on 4 November 1470, while his father Edward IV was in exile and his mother Elizabeth (Woodville) was taking Sanctuary within the Abbey precincts. Edward IV was restored to the throne soon after. He died on 9 April 1483. Edward V was at Ludlow at the time and on his way back to London he was met by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester and escorted to the Tower of London. The young king never left the Tower. It was then alleged that his parents’ marriage was not valid and Edward was declared to be deposed on 25 June 1483. His uncle succeeded him, proclaimed as Richard III. Elizabeth had again taken refuge in the Abbey and from there she was persuaded to give up her second son Richard, Duke of York, who joined his brother in the Tower. The Princes were presumed to have been murdered there. In 1674 some bones of children were found in the Tower and assumed to be those of the two boys. The remains were brought to the Abbey. A white marble sarcophagus to house the bones was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and made by Joshua Marshall. This is in the north aisle of Henry VII’s chapel, near Elizabeth I’s tomb. The Latin inscription (written in 1678) can be translated:

“Here lie the relics of Edward V, King of England, and Richard, Duke of York. These brothers being confined in the Tower of London, and there stifled with pillows, were privately and meanly buried, by the order of their perfidious uncle Richard the Usurper; whose bones, long enquired after and wished for, after 191 years in the rubbish of the stairs (those lately leading to the Chapel of the White Tower) were on the 17th day of July 1674, by undoubted proofs discovered, being buried deep in that place. Charles II, a most compassionate prince, pitying their severe fate, ordered these unhappy Princes to be laid amongst the monuments of their predecessors, 1678, in the 30th year of his reign”.

A photograph of the monument can be purchased from Westminster Abbey Library.