Only two of the sons of Edward IV were alive at Edward's death: a son also named Edward, age 12, and Richard, age 9. After the death of Edward IV, that twelve year old son became king as Edward V. Edward IV's brother, and uncle to the boys, was appointed regent for Edward IV and protector of the boys. The uncle was another Richard: Duke of Gloucester (called Gloucester), the youngest of the seven children of Richard, third Duke of York, and his wife, Cecily Neville.
Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV's widow, sent her son Edward V to London to be crowned, but Gloucester intercepted his party, and put the young king into the Tower of London, ostensibly for his protection.
Elizabeth Woodville interpreted this as an incarceration of the young king and a threat to all her children, Edward IV's heirs. She took sanctuary with the rest of her children -- the other prince, Richard, and her daughters -- in Westminster Abbey.
Gloucester asked her to send her second son, Richard, to go live with his older brother, Edward V, in the Tower, supposedly to keep his brother from being lonely. Why did Elizabeth Woodville surrender her second son? We don't know, but she did. Did Gloucester get her to trust him? Did she think she had no choice? Had he suggested that he would marry Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth of York, and Elizabeth Woodville saw that as at least some survival of her family? We don't know. That the stories that survive are largely filtered through the usual "winners tell the tale," Richard of Gloucester is generally seen as a villain, and Elizabeth Woodville and her children as helpless victims; skepticism reminds us that not all the facts are known.
What we do know: two months after both princes were in the Tower, Gloucester, their uncle, protector, and regent for the king, declared the marriage of Elizabeth of York and Edward IV invalid. Gloucester claimed that Edward IV had been under a previous contract to marry someone else, Lady Eleanor Butler, at the time that he married Elizabeth Woodville. An Act of Parliament backed up Gloucester. If Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid, then all their children were bastards -- Edward V and his brother, the prince Richard, and their sisters. None were eligible to inherit the title of Edward IV.
Just weeks later, Gloucester took the throne for himself as Richard III, in July of 1483.
Elizabeth Woodville then secretly backed Henry Tudor's attempt to overthrow Richard III, promising her daughter, Elizabeth of York, to Henry Tudor as a wife and queen. Henry Tudor swore an oath to marry Elizabeth of York in December 1483, then prepared to invade England and take the crown from Richard III.
The two princes in the Tower, Edward V and his brother Richard, were not seen again. Rumors they'd been murdered began almost immediately, and added to public opposition to Richard III. The prime suspect has long been considered Richard III, but other suspects include Henry VII or his mother, Margaret Beaufort; Henry Stafford, second Duke of Buckingham who played a role in the ascent of both Richard III and later Henry VII; or John Morton, who opposed Richard III and supported Henry VII, and who was appointed by Henry VII as Archbishop of Canterbury.
In 1674, skeletons of children approximately matching the ages of the two boys were found in a chest in the Tower; these were moved to Westminster Abbey. Were these the two princes? Tests were not done then and haven't been done since.
In 1789, coffins of two unidentified children were found in a vault discovered at that time next to the vault with the remains of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. They were presumed to be the coffins of two other children of Edward and Elizabeth: Mary who had died at age 14, just a year before her father's death, and George, who had died at about age 3, four years before Edward IV died, and the coffins were inscribed with these names and resealed into the tomb. Then in about 1810, two coffins were found during excavation at the Woolsey Tomb-House, a memorial chapel originally built as a chapel at Windsor by Henry VII. Those coffins were labeled at those of George and Mary. Mary's coffin was opened, and the remains found were consistent with a girl of 14 or 15, including some pale gold hair. These two coffins were then placed in the vault adjoining that of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, with the two other coffins found earlier.
In the 1990s, a request was received by those in charge of the chapel at Windsor to examine the vault and perhaps the two coffins found in 1789. The request was not answered.
