In December 2024, Professor Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield, discovered startling new information at the National Archives regarding the mystery of the two princes, sons of Edward IV. With several new pieces of damning evidence that seems to lean toward Richard III being responsible for the murder of his nephews, Professor Thornton started work on a documentary which recently aired in the UK leaving little doubt that over 500 years ago, a murder took place at the hands of one whom the history world has, for centuries, tried to prove innocent. According to Prof. Thornton, Richard ordered Sir James Tyrell, his loyal friend, to kill the princes. Tyrell could not do it so directed the boys' keeper, Miles Forest, and his own horsekeeper, John Dighton to do the deed. Thornton has argued that "More based his account on information gleaned from sources who, in More's words, 'much knew and had little cause to lye.' Through painstaking research, Thornton has identified two of More's fellow courtiers between 1513 and 1519 as the sons of Forest—Edward and Miles—and he believes they are the sources that More refers to in his history. There is even mention of one of them in More's correspondence to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. This strengthens the credibility of More's account and the case for Richard III's guilt."

Revealing Centuries Old Evidence

The following information is reproduced here from an article by the National Archives, UK, Monday 2 December 2024

"Extraordinary new evidence has been found at The National Archives which offers a fresh clue about what happened to The Princes in the Tower. An entry in a 16th century registry of wills shows a treasured possession belonging to elder prince, Edward V – his chain – being bequeathed by a member of Sir James Tyrell’s family.

Tyrell was implicated in the princes’ murder by Thomas More, in his The History of King Richard the Third, though many historians have dismissed that as Tudor propaganda. However, Tyrell is on record as working for Richard III and the discovery raises the question: why did one of his relatives have such a personal item of the elder boy in their possession? The evidence is in a registry copy of the 1516 will of Lady Margaret Capell, half-sister of Sir James Tyrell’s wife, Anne. (Doc ref: PROB 11/19) The entry reads: “I bequeath to my sonne Sir Giles his fadres Cheyne which was Yonge kynge Edward the Vth.”

The extraordinary discovery came to light when Prof Tim Thornton, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield, began searching through documents at The National Archives for clues about what might have happened to the young princes’ possessions.

'Their clothes, their belongings just seemed to disappear, no one ever seems to refer to them,' said Prof Thornton who published his finds in the journal, History. The debate over Richard III’s responsibility for the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower will no doubt run and run, but we now have a unique reference to the survival of an object that was very personal to Edward V to add into the mix. It’s exciting to be able to shed further light on one of the most controversial and mysterious episodes in British history.'

Sean Cunningham, Head of Collections (Medieval & Early Modern) at The National Archives, said: 'Margaret’s reference to a chain once owned by the uncrowned teenage king Edward V is a new piece of evidence that raises more questions than it answers. Edward vanished from public view within the walls of the Tower in summer 1483 – thirty-three years before this will was written. It is fascinating to speculate how the Capell family came to own an expensive piece of jewellery that once belonged to Edward during his short life and why it was identified in this specific way, such a long time after his disappearance.'"

Sir James Tyrell

"The whole interest of Tyrell's career centres round the murder of the two sons of Edward IV. The story, as told by the author of the 'Historie of Kyng Rycharde the Thirde,' makes Richard send John Green to Sir Robert Brackenbury, the constable of the Tower, with orders that the deed should be done by him. This was while Richard was on his progress to Gloucester. On Brackenbury's refusal, Green returned to Richard at Warwick, and while the king was in a state of anxious uncertainty, a page suggested that Tyrell would do what was wanted. The writer explains that Tyrell had been kept in the background by Ratcliffe and Catesby, and was therefore likely to stick at nothing that could secure his advantage. Tyrell was then sent to the Tower with a letter to Brackenbury, commanding him to give up the keys for a night. The two princes were accordingly smothered by Miles Forest, one of their keepers, 'a felowe fleshed in murther before time,' and John Dighton, Tyrell's horsekeeper, 'a big, brode, square, strong knaue.' Tyrell, having seen that the murder was carried out, ordered the bodies to be buried at the stair foot, and rode back to Richard, 'who gave hym gret thanks, and, as som say, there made him knight.'

Tyrell's reward was certainly not in proportion to his service. He became a knight of the king's body, and on 5 Nov. 1483 received commissions to array the men of Wales against Buckingham. He was also a commissioner for the forfeited estates of Buckingham and others in Wales and the marches. On 10 April 1484 he benefited at the expense of the traitor Sir John Fogge. On 9 Aug. 1484 he was made steward of the duchy of Cornwall for life, and on 13 Sept. 1484 he became sheriff of the lordship of Wenlock, steward of the lordships of Newport Wenlock, Kevoeth Meredith, Lavenitherry, and Lanthoesant, for life. He also was allowed to enter on the estates of Sir Thomas Arundel, a relative of his wife. At some time in the reign he was made one of the chamberlains of the exchequer." - Luminarian Encyclopedia

OF NOTE:

It is worthy to note that Miles Forest was the keeper in the tower over the two princes, and John Dighton, the horsekeeper for Tyrell. Sir Thomas More, Catholic Priest, had met with the two sons, of Miles Forest, Edward and Miles, who told the priest what had happened to the princes, a story they may have heard through their mother, perhaps in the way of confessing to a priest for their deceased father who died in sanctuary in 1484. The two sons may have told More that Richard paid a substantial annuity to their widowed mother, Joan and the young boy, Edward. More's story of meeting the sons has been questioned as to proof that they were, indeed, the sons of Miles Forest. However, proof of their existence was found in their employ: Edward Forest was a Groom of the Chamber under King Henry VIII, and Miles Forest was in the employ of Cardinal Wolsey.

Miles Forest spent his later days in Sanctuary, a poor man. But why? Was he sent away for the purpose of exile from those who might question him? The reason is not known, however, the theory makes quite good sense.

It is also proven from the itinerary of Elizabeth of York, the sister of the two princes, that David Starkey's suggestion that Elizabeth of York and Henry VII were at the Tower at the time of the trial of Sir James Tyrell, is accurate.

There is also the curiousity surrounding the hasty execution of Lord Hastings by King Richard III, his execution taking place the same day it was so ordered. Hastings did not believe the illegitimacy claims of Edward IV's birth and marriage and told Richard, and he may also have known of Richard's intentions for proclaiming such.

The Chain of Office belonging to Edward V was clearly his, as inscribed, and it ended up with Tyrell who then gave it to family. Was this a "trophy?"

All in all, the evidence is pretty clear and does, at this point, lean toward Richard's guilt.