What do you think happened to the little princes in the Tower?

SHED NO TEARS

I watched The White Queen and the White Princess on television recently, where the theory is that Elizabeth Woodville, the princes' mother, substituted the younger prince, Richard, with a peasant who resembled him.

There are so many things wrong with this theory, I don't know where to begin.

The first thing that springs to mind is that a fifteenth century peasant boy would be unable to read and write, would have a very different accent to the prince, and would have no idea how to behave. He wouldn't have fooled anyone for long.

The other thing wrong with the theory is that the princes' mother arranged the marriage, along with Margaret Beaufort, of her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, to Henry Tudor. She did this to secure her family's position on the throne and such a marriage would have given a much better claim to Henry Tudor. Is it likely she would have done that had she thought for one moment that one of her own sons still lived?

When it comes to the mystery of the fate of the princes, all we can have are theories. My theory, in this book, is different but just as good as any other.

Certainly James Tyrell confessed to having murdered the boys, on the orders of Richard III, but confessions taken in medieval times were unreliable. Mark Smeaton confessed to sleeping with Anne Boleyn, when he was nowhere near the place stated at the time. If you have ever been to the Tower of London, especially when the dungeons were open (they were closed for safety reasons some years ago), you would possibly imagine that a suspect would confess to anything in order to stop the torture.

Anyway, it is a theory, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

The story revolves around a fictitious character, Lord Nicholas Rainham, who was a friend of King Edward IV. But when that King died suddenly, his friends started to disappear, being executed without trial on the orders of the King's brother, Richard. Nicholas knows he will be next and is forced into hiding. 

New Novel - A Man in Mourning

Available from 15th November. This tale is set at the end of the Wars of the Roses when Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III, the last of the Plantagenet dynasty, and brought stability back to England.

 

King Richard III is probably best known to non-historians for having murdered the little princes in the Tower of London, although there has never been any proof of that.

 

The allegation likely started with Shakespeare's play about the King, but he was living under the Tudors and had no wish to upset them.  Richard did, however, kidnap his nephew, Edward, the rightful king Edward V, on his way to his coronation and later his brother, Richard, and locked them away in the Tower, supposedly for their own safety.  He also had his brother's marriage annulled so as to make his sons illegitimate and make himself the rightful heir to the throne.

 

Richard III's remains were lost for six hundred years until in February 2013 a car park in Leicester was excavated and the remains were discovered beneath it and given a proper burial. Unfortunately, there are now some doubters who are challenging the finding and the DNA evidence that the remains were indeed Richard. The first clue that the skeleton was Richard's was the curvature of the spine, which is well known, and one has to wonder how likely it would be for another man to have gone into battle with such a disability. We will never know.

 

My story has little to do with the battle, or with Richard, but the setting is at this time. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Lord Ian Westerby has mourned his late wife, Eleanor, for ten years and never wanted to remarry. But when his younger brother and heir dies at the Battle of Bosworth, he is forced to take a new wife to produce an heir to his title and estates. Because he is a recluse who is still devoted to his dead wife, he is not a popular choice, but neither is his chosen bride, Lady Francesca Allinton. An accident some two years before left her crippled and, although beautiful, her twisted gait has made her unmarriageable by most standards.

These two are drawn together through circumstances neither of them want but can they make a future together, or will their individual secret heartaches drive a wedge between them?

 

You can read the first chapter here.