The Princes in the Tower

Lore & Background

His son, Edward V, then at Ludlow Castle, and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, at Middleham Castle, set out for London, meeting at Stony Stratford on 29 April. Gloucester arrested Edward V's retinue, including the boys' uncle Anthony Woodville and half-brother Sir Richard Grey, who were later beheaded. Gloucester assumed custody of Edward V, prompting Queen Elizabeth Woodville to take Prince Richard and her daughters into sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. Their coronation was postponed, and on 22 June a sermon declared Gloucester the only legitimate heir. Parliament declared the princes illegitimate, and Gloucester was crowned Richard III on 6 July.

Reader's Guide

The princes were the only surviving sons of King Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, aged twelve and nine when their father died in April 1483. Their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed Lord Protector and lodged them in the Tower of London, then a traditional royal residence before a coronation. Before the elder boy could be crowned, however, Parliament declared both princes illegitimate on the grounds that their father had been pre-contracted to marry another woman, a judgment later formalized in an act known as Titulus Regius. Gloucester ascended the throne as Richard III. After this, the boys were moved to the inner apartments of the Tower and seen less and less until they vanished entirely. An Italian friar then in London recorded that the elder prince, believing death was near, sought remission of his sins through daily confession and penance. It is generally assumed they were murdered, likely in 1483, though evidence is circumstantial. The most common theory points to Richard III securing his throne, though their kinsman Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, has also been proposed. Later, two impostors claimed to be the younger prince: Lambert Simnel, crowned in Dublin as “King Edward VI,” and Perkin Warbeck, who asserted he had escaped to Flanders and was supported by the princes’ aunt, Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. In 1674, workmen at the Tower unearthed a wooden box containing two small skeletons from under a staircase; these were widely accepted as the princes’ remains and were interred in Westminster Abbey by King Charles II, though their identity remains unproven. The mystery has profoundly shaped the historical reputation of Richard III, often casting him as a villain, and continues to fuel debate among historians and the public.

Did You Know?

• Dominic Mancini, an Italian friar, recorded that after Richard III seized the throne, the princes were taken into the inner apartments of the Tower and seen less and less until they disappeared.

Publication Format & Reader Experience

A distinctive structural choice was the journal-style presentation: page numbers flowed continuously from one edition into the next, so that the growing pile of pamphlets read as a single, ever-expanding volume rather than a stack of separate leaflets. The content was organized into 26 thematic volumes, each grouping a cluster of related articles under a shared letter or subject heading. Clarke's Mysterious World first aired, and it quickly became a hugely popular purchase for readers hungry for the unexplained. When the series eventually wound down, Orbis extended a practical consumer safeguard: anyone who returned their collected covers could receive a refund on the purchase.

Editorial Leadership & Advisory Expertise

Above him in the hierarchy sat Brian Innes as editorial director, a figure who brought direct prior experience to the role from his earlier work on Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural. The publication also leaned on external consultants to lend scholarly weight to its coverage. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the astronomer long associated with serious UFO investigation, and Professor A. J. Ellison both served in advisory capacities, giving the masthead a layer of recognized expertise in parapsychology and the unexplained. This combination of a dedicated in-house editor, an editorial director steeped in supernatural encyclopedic work, and two prominent outside consultants in ufology and the paranormal helped the series strike a tone that felt researched and credible rather than purely sensational, a quality that likely contributed to its broad popular appeal during its run.

Breadth of Subject Matter

The 26 volumes collectively spanned an astonishing range of topics, moving fluidly between the paranormal, the historical, the scientific, and the purely bizarre. Readers encountered entries on UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, spontaneous human combustion, the Cottingley Fairies, ancient knowledge, sea monsters, the Yeti, weird coincidences, stone circles, and contact with the dead. Historical figures with occult connections featured heavily, from Madame Blavatsky and Aleister Crowley to Edgar Cayce and the Man in the Iron Mask. The series also grappled with philosophical and scientific questions such as the Anthropic Principle, black holes, the origins of life, evolution, and the existence of God. Specific cases and locations received dedicated treatment—the Enfield Poltergeist, Glastonbury, Oak Island, the Great Lakes Triangle, and even the Princes in the Tower—alongside broader themes like telepathy, psychokinesis, remote viewing, and the work of the Society for Psychical Research. No single reader could claim the set addressed only their particular niche of fascination.

International Editions & Post-Series Reissues

The material did not remain confined to British newsstands. A complementary French edition, titled L'Inexpliqué, was produced with articles that were written differently rather than simply translated, indicating a distinct editorial approach tailored to that audience. The French series was published in a variable number of volumes, ranging from 8 to 26 depending on the particular edition, whereas the British set settled at 26. During the late 1980s, publishers including Black Cat, Caxton, and St. Michael's Books reissued selections of the magazine's articles as standalone titles. This transition from a serialized newsstand product to collected volumes allowed the material to reach new readerships well after the original three-year run had ended, extending the cultural footprint of what had been a hugely popular publication.