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The Princes Who Vanished · Cold Ledger

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  Speaker 1: April, 1483. King Edward IV dies suddenly, at just 40
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  Speaker 1: years old. His heir is his 12-year-old son, also named Edward.
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  Speaker 1: The boy is living at Ludlow Castle, near the Welsh border,
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  Speaker 1: surrounded by his mother's family, the Woodvilles, and the old
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  Speaker 1: nobility of England resent them. Hundreds of miles to the
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  Speaker 1: north is the dead king's younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
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  Speaker 1: He has been loyal to Edward for years, and he
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  Speaker 1: is named protector of the realm until the new king
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  Speaker 1: comes of age. Now watch what happens next. Richard rides
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  Speaker 1: south and meets the young king's party on the road.
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  Speaker 1: That same night, he has the boy's uncle and his
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  Speaker 1: closest advisors arrested. By morning, the 12-year-old king is in
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  Speaker 1: Richard's custody. Together, they enter London. The boy is lodged
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  Speaker 1: in the Tower of London. Now, that sounds ominous to us,
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  Speaker 1: but in this era, the Tower was a royal residence.
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  Speaker 1: Kings traditionally stayed there before their coronation. A date is set,
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  Speaker 1: June the 22nd. Meanwhile, the boy's mother, Elizabeth Woodville, takes
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  Speaker 1: her younger son and her daughters and flees into sanctuary
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  Speaker 1: at Westminster. She does not trust what is happening. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in mid-June, the younger brother, nine-year-old Richard, is persuaded out
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  Speaker 1: of sanctuary and sent to join his brother in the tower.
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  Speaker 1: Two princes, one building, and an uncle with total control
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  Speaker 1: of the kingdom. Days later, Richard storms into a council meeting,
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  Speaker 1: has one of the late king's closest friends dragged out,
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  Speaker 1: and executes him. Then comes a bombshell. A bishop claims
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  Speaker 1: that the late king's marriage was never legal. If that's true,
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  Speaker 1: then both boys are illegitimate, and neither one can inherit
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  Speaker 1: the throne. Parliament agrees. On the 26th of June, Richard
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  Speaker 1: accepts the crown. The coronation of the boy king never happens,
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  Speaker 1: and this is where the princes begin to disappear.