History sleuth Lucy Worsley may have cracked one of Britain’s most enduring mysteries – the fate of the princes in the Tower.
She and a documentary team say new evidence points the finger at a perpetrator responsible for what happened to the young royals, assumed to have been murdered.
Worsley said new research techniques had shed light on the case.
She said: “Like everyone who works at the Tower of London, I just can’t wait to share the next twist in the tale of what we think we know about the ‘murder’.”
The boys’ destiny is one of Britain’s mysteries being examined in the BBC2’s Unsolved Histories series, which airs later this year.
Worsley also re-investigates whether George III was really mad, the true cause of the Black Death and the reason a witch craze swept 16th century Britain.
But it is the poignant tale about the princes, aged nine and 12, that still captures the public imagination even centuries later.
They are thought to have died in the Tower of London in 1483 after the death of their father, King Edward IV. The elder would have been crowned Edward V, and his brother was Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.
The most popular theory is that they were murdered by their uncle, the future Richard III. Others suggest the killer was their uncle the Duke of Buckingham or future brother-in-law King Henry VII.
Some believe they were spirited away to a new life. In 1674, a box containing two child-sized skeletons , assumed to the princes, was dug up at the Tower.
Worsley said: “I love the fact this isn’t just a series about the past. It’s also about what the past means today: an investigation of our own 2021 ideas about childhood,
feminism, pandemics and mental health.”
Each episode takes a “deep dive” into a single event, mounting a comprehensive re-investigation by assembling historical and contemporary evidence, following paper trails, re-examining scenes of crimes and tracking down lost records.
One source said: “It will uncover new victims and new victors, challenging our perceptions and providing answers to each renowned mystery.”
*Unsolved Histories airs on BBC2 later this year.
