Edward V was born on the 2nd of November 1470, his father was the Yorkist King Edward IV, and his mother was Elizabeth Woodville. He was born at Cheyneygates, the adjoining house at Westminster Abbey where his mother had sought sanctuary from the Lancastrians who had disposed of his father during the course of the war of the roses.
However, his father’s throne was soon restored, and Edward was made Prince of Wales in 1471. At the age of three, he was sent to Ludlow alongside his mother, where he would spend much of his childhood. As a young boy, his father had entrusted Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, who was also young Edward’s uncle, to be his guardian. He also happened to be a scholar and was given a set of instructions which he must adhere to in the upbringing of young Edward and the management of the prince’s household.
A regular day consisted of an uninterrupted early church service followed by breakfast and an entire day of schooling and exercise. Edward IV was keen to have positive influences on his son, and then he was to be read “noble stories of virtue, honour, cunning, wisdom, and deeds of worship” but “of nothing that should move or stir him to vice”—guided by religion and morality. His day-to-day activities were following the strictest guidelines given by his father.
To solidify this, his father planned an arranged marriage. This marriage planning agreed to in 1480 was to form an alliance with Francis II, Duke of Brittany. Young Prince Edward was already destined for his betrothal to the Duke of Brittany’s four-year-old heir, Anne.
On a Monday, the 14th of April 1483, the young Prince Edward received news of his father’s sudden death. It was said that Edward IV nominated his brother Richard as the protector of his son.
He was King for only two months. His short reign was controlled by the influence of his uncle and Lord Protector, the Duke of Gloucester, who deposed him to reign as King Richard III; this was confirmed by the Act entitled Titulus Regius, which denounced any further claims through his father’s heirs.
At only thirteen years of age, he met an untimely and tragic end at the Tower of London, imprisoned alongside his brother and later said to be smothered to death while asleep.
