King Edward V

1470 – 1483 · Generation XXI · King of England (Apr–Jun 1483) · House of Plantagenet

Edward V of York (1470–1483). King of England (Apr–Jun 1483). One of the Princes in the Tower; never crowned, never seen again after the summer of 1483. Never crowned, he reigned only weeks, real power lying with his uncle the Duke of Gloucester as Lord Protector — who displaced him and took the throne as Richard III. An act of Parliament, the Titulus Regius, declared him and all his siblings illegitimate; Henry VII later had the act repealed and married Edward’s eldest sister, Elizabeth of York. Responsibility for the brothers’ disappearance from the Tower is most often laid at Richard’s door, though the evidence has never been conclusive and the contemporary accounts conflict.

One of 23 people of House of Plantagenet (1126–1485) in this archive. The longest-reigning English house, counting its Angevin beginning and the rival Lancaster and York branches that fought the Wars of the Roses.

Line of descent: King William I The Conqueror → King Henry I → Matilda the Empress → King Henry II → King John → King Henry III → King Edward I Longshanks → King Edward II → King Edward III → Edmund of Langley → Richard of Conisburgh → Richard of York → King Edward IV → King Edward V.

Parents

King Edward IV (1442 – 1483)
Elizabeth Woodville (1437 – 1492)

Siblings

Elizabeth of York (1466 – 1503)

Life

1470 — Born
1483 — Died
1483 — On the death of Edward, the crown passes to his 12 year old son, Edward V
1483 — Edward is declared illegitimate and deposed in favour of his uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester.
1483 — Edward and his younger brother Richard of York are imprisoned in the Tower of London. After a few months the princes are never seen again and are believed to have been murdered.