Richard, Duke of York (Prince in the Tower)

This article is about Richard, Duke of York, son of King Edward IV who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. For the article about Edward IV's father see Richard, Duke of York.

Richard, Duke of York (August 17, 1473 – 1483?) was the second son of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville and, thus, the younger brother of Edward V of England. In January 1478, when he was about 4 years old, he married the 5-year-old Anne Mowbray, who had inherited the vast Mowbray estates in 1476.

His father died on April 9, 1483. Thus Edward V became King of England and Richard his Heir Presumptive. This was not to last. Robert Stillington, a priest, presented evidence that Edward IV had contacted a secret marriage to Lady Eleanor Talbot in 1461. Talbot was still alive when Edward married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464. The Regency council under Richard, Duke of Gloucester concluded that this was a case of bigamy, invalidating the second marriage and the legitimacy of all children of Edward IV by this marriage. Both Edward and Richard were declared illegitimate and removed from the line of succession on June 25, 1483. The Duke of Gloucester, as a surviving younger brother of Edward IV, became King Richard III of England. Richard, Duke of York, was sent to the Tower of London by Richard III in mid-1483. What happened to him and his brother--the Princes in the Tower--after that has been the subject of much speculation and debate. In the 1490s, Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, but he was an imposter. Richard's might have been the smaller of two skeletons discovered in a chest in the Tower in 1674, but there is as yet no evidence one way or the other.

The comedy series The Black Adder features an alternative history where Richard succeeded his uncle to the throne as King Richard IV of England (reigned 1485 – 1498) before being poisoned and succeeded by Henry VII.