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https://www.parlia.com/o/princes-in-tower-were-murdered

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Commentary
**New evidence does seem to suggest that the Princes were murdered - although it's something we'll never know for sure.** - King Richard III has long been rumoured to have murdered his nephews, King Edward V and Richard Duke of York when they were both young boys in order to gain the throne of England for himself. The [two princes] (https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Princes-in-the-Tower/) were locked inside the Tower of London in 1483 and were never seen again, with Richard III taking the throne that same year in place of Edward. - There was a lot of speculation in the wake of the supposed murders about Richard's role & it's a rumour that's stuck (it even prominently featured in [one of Shakespeare's plays] (http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardiii/full.html)). The tricky thing is that not long after he took the throne, Richard was killed by Henry Tudor, and a new monarchy took over. So promotion of the idea that Richard III was a murderer might have functioned as Tudor propaganda - to promote the new monarch & make the former one look bad. - One of the most famous documents that supports the theory of Richard as a murderer is Thomas More's ['The History of King Richard III',] (https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/thomas-mores-history-of-king-richard-iii) which was published under Henry VIII's reign. It is dismissed by some as being blatantly propagandist - but [a new study] (https://www.medievalists.net/2021/02/new-study-strengthens-claims-richard-iii-murdered-the-princes-in-the-tower/) has suggested that More actually had contacts in the Tudor court who were directly descended from the 2 men employed by King Richard to do his dirty work. - This makes it possible that More was privy to genuine information about the prince's murders. It definitely lends weight to his account of the deaths in the tower - but there was also undoubtedly a strong element of anti-Richard propaganda to his writing. So how much is true and how much was perhaps fabricated or exaggerated, we will never know.
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