Cold Case Reopened: The Princes in the Tower by Mark Garber Read Free Book Online

to do this.
    If the bones in Westminster Abbey were ever proven not to be those of the princes, then Edward IV's vault would be my first port of call to search for the bodies.
Do we have a murder case?

    We have three different reports and possibilities regarding discovery of human remains that could be the Princes in the Tower.
    1.Bones of two children found under the stairwell in the Tower of London that correspond with More’s written account of the resting place of the murdered Princes.
    2.Bones of children found in a sealed up room in the Tower of London. This report is unverified and the age of the children is unknown.
    3.Two additional coffins in the vault of Edward IV. Is it is unknown to whom these coffins belong and why they have been buried alongside Edward IV.

    All of the above accounts relate to findings of a pair of human remains.
    Despite the fact that none of these remains have actually been confirmed to be the princes, I would suggest that there is enough plausibility to say that the princes were murdered.
    Therefore we are dealing with a murder case.

CHAPTER SIX
The changeling theory

The Changeling Theory

    We have determined that we are dealing with a murder case. However, we have no formal identification of the bodies.
    There is a theory that whoever murdered the Princes in the Tower did not actually do so. Instead they murdered Edward V and an unknown boy that Elizabeth Woodville had substituted for her second son Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.
How likely is this to be the case?
    On the face of it, it is a highly plausible theory. We have already established that Elizabeth Woodville was a calculating woman, and it is clearly something that was not beyond her. On hearing news of Gloucester's actions on the road, Elizabeth immediately fled with the rest of her family to the safety of Westminster Abbey. Between their arrival at the abbey and the point she finally handed over York, there was a period of around six weeks. This would have given Elizabeth more than ample opportunity to get her son away. Despite the fact that she was in sanctuary this did not mean that she was cut off from the outside world. She received regular communications about events going on in London; the loyal people of the city even supplied her with generous amounts of food. It is believed that the family lodged in the abbot's house; she certainly was not forced to bed down amongst the tombs.
    The proximity of the Abbey to the river meant that this was the most plausible means of getting York away. The distrust of Gloucester and the loyalty of many in the city to the queen meant that a changeling would have been relatively easy to find, especially when you consider she was armed with two-thirds of the royal treasure.
    However, at this point the theory breaks down. The changeling is highly unlikely to have been an educated boy. In just a matter of weeks he would have needed to have fooled the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Howard and Gloucester himself into believing that he was a prince. It isn't completely beyond the realms of possibility but it does seem unlikely. The meeting with Gloucester in the Star Chamber would have been key in this deception. Gloucester was not a regular visitor to court. Instead, he spent the majority of time ruling the north for his brother. Would Gloucester have recognised his own nephew? Gloucester would probably have had his own suspicions that Elizabeth Woodville may have supplied a changeling and so that is why he wanted to meet the boy to confirm for himself that he really did have the Duke of York. It is likely that he would have questioned the boy to be sure of his identity. Despite the obstacles that come up against the theory there is still the possibility that the changeling managed to pull it off and managed to convince his captors that he was York.
    There would still have been one further obstacle to come: the immediate reaction of the young king when presented with his “brother.”