Extraordinary new clue about the Princes in the Tower found at The National Archives

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 16^th 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.“