Princes in the Tower

One of Britain's most fascinating mysteries, what exactly happened to The Princes in The Tower, twelve year old Edward, in line to the throne, and his younger brother Richard, aged nine. Lucy Worsley investigates.

When Edward IV died his young son Edward was to take over, but being just twelve years old, two years shy of adulthood, a vacuum opened up, and a royal power grab took place.

An interesting look at the tragic event, Lucy goes into some depth about what may have happened and why, young Edward's relationship within his family unit, and the potential power grab by Uncle Richard. It's quite a shocking story really, Lucy offers several, well reasoned arguments.

The history of The Woodville family was fascinating, I wasn't aware of the later linka to Henry VII.

I'll be honest, I generally think of Stephen Poliakoff's dramatisation first, if you've not seen it, I'd really recommend it, an emotional telling of the story.

Very detailed, informative and thought provoking.

8/10.

This series moves at a slow pace as Lucy Worsley moves from building to building, looking at books and speaking to scholars. Her she looks into the deaths of two heirs to the throne of England. Shakespeare has made people think that Richard III was responsible for bringing about the deaths of these boys and making the "evil" guy the king. She throws a whole bunch of water on some of this. If there is one thing we need to be aware of, at this time there was so much subterfuge among royalty. Kings were under constant scrutiny and the knew that someone was always ready to take them down. Also, if they did something that was unpopular, there were consequences. The conclusion is often that we don't have enough evidence, especially from so long ago, it is inconclusive. There is even a theory that the boys were kidnapped and brought elsewhere. Also, a man who tutored and befriended them ended up losing his life on drummed up charges.