in
2012 the remains of King Richard III
were discovered in a car park in
Leicester the woman behind the discovery
historian Philipa Langley rewrote
British history like a Monte python
again it is yeah is she about to do it
again I said that it was job done but
actually it wasn't job done did Richard
III murder the princes in the tower for
500 years we've believed that King
Richard murdered his nephews known as
the princes in the
tower but I think the princes weren't
murdered I think they actually
survived with criminal Barrister Rob
rinda by her side so what we're about to
see is is Big this is history right here
a continent spanning Journey awaits so
Europe is an absolute Treasure Trove of
information as they make St butling
discoveries now comes the real treasure
wow wow wow it is a wild document and
scrutinize evidence I don't see why
anyone is satisfied with a forced
confession this is a forgery it's a fake
Rich III is the bad King can Rob and
philipper uncover the truth he's either
one of the greatest conmen in history or
he's a king and crack one of the
greatest mysteries in British history
this is a Smoking Gun
[Music]
document for the last 7 years I've been
investigating the story of the Two
Princes working with an army of
researchers we've made the most
startling discoveries which I believe
prove what happened to the missing
princes
and it's a very different story to the
one in most history books I'm going to
see the criminal barister Rob rinda he's
been very successfully involved in a
number of high-profile murder
cases I want to find out if I can
convince a professional skeptic that I'm
right so Philip as I understand your
view is that we need to relook at
the murder of the princess in the tower
is that the point that is absolutely the
point and I've spent a number of years
doing this I think very strongly that
truth matters so I went to see
investigative Specialists to get their
advice and they all told me the same
thing there's actually no evidence
anywhere that they were murdered there's
no identified
bodies so what you you've got to do is
put together a missing person inquiry so
a Cold Case investigation if you like
now I'm intrigued the project is called
the missing princes project right and
it's not just me that's in it I put out
an SOS call asking for
volunteers and I was inundated I've got
over 300 members in the project 300 yeah
I've asked people to investigate their
local archives to see what they can find
I'm not telling them to ignore that and
give me that I want the lot so that I
can build the jigsaw of what happened in
that time in that place and to find
facts things that can be corroborated
things that can be corroborated exactly
now that's obviously music to my ears
the finds that they've made have been
extraordinary and if these finds are
real then they have the potential to
rewrite
history that's quite a significant claim
if they are right mhm I think the
princes weren't
survived however I haven't seen these
discoveries I've been told what's in
them I need a criminal forensic mind who
can look at this material that I've got
and evaluate it
this is why I'm here I'd like you to
come with me you would be seeing them
fresh with me for the very first
time when you came in
here I thought you might
be a bit of an activist perhaps a crank
you know yeah and forgive me if that
sounds
harsh I'm now sitting here listening to
you and I'm thinking this is too
intriguing to IGN
no when philipo arrived I had a strong
sense of who killed the princess in the
tower Richard
III by the end of that conference I'm
persuaded that on the face of it there's
enough
material for an
investigation but before I go anywhere
with her I want to get back to the
original version of events to understand
what that well traditional that
mainstream view about what happened to
those boys is this is Tower Hill so I'm
off to the Tower of London to meet Tracy
bourman who's a curator
there so I'm here to learn a little bit
about the princess in the tower well
that is probably the darkest chapter in
the tower's long history and it's still
of course the subject of intense debate
today we see it now here as a museum but
help me understand paint a picture of
what it was like when the princess came
here in like 1480s it was very different
it was almost like a a miniature City
here at the
tower there were about a thousand people
living here working here there were
shops there were 15 pubs 15 pubs yes
exactly wow I mean it's crammed in here
the Royal Armory was here a menagerie
effectively a zoo it was crowded with
people coming and going quite apart from
the fact it was a Royal Palace as well
and a prison and it's as a prison that
we see it
today so Tracy who were the princes the
princes were the sons of king Edward IV
a very popular
King
but he died quite suddenly of a fever in
1483 and that plunged the country into
uncertainty because his sons were only
aged 12 and nine still too young to rule
so on his deathbed Edward IV appointed
his brother Richard of Gloucester to be
Lord protector until his eldest son had
come of age so their uncle brings the
princess here for their protection
what's going on that they will need to
be protected
England has only just come out of what
was known as the wars of the roses and
now this was between two Waring houses
the house of York and Lancaster the
crown keeps changing hands and it has
only recently become more stable under
Edward IV and now all of that is thrown
into
doubt Edward ivth left his kingdom to
his eldest son Edward V his brother
Richard Duke of York was second in line
to the
crown but shortly before Edward's
coronation the princes were declared
illegitimate and lost their right to the
throne their Uncle Richard III was
declared
King when they first arrived in the
Tower of London they were treated
honorably they were seen playing in the
gardens shooting arrows but then by the
Autumn of 1483 those boys were never
seen again and it was widely assumed at
the time and has been ever since that
they had been quietly
murdered so what evidence you have that
they were murdered this is an account
written at the time by an Italian monk
visiting London he was called Dominic
manini so he talks about those two
princes conducted in into the more
inward Apartments of the tower itself
and day by day came to be observed more
rarely through luses and windows so who
else speaks about this well somebody
rather famous from the Tuda period it's
Thomas Moore of course lawyer Statesman
and we think about 50 years after The
Disappearance of the princes Moore wrote
his account what does he actually say mo
claims that Richard III ordered the
murder of his nephews and he names names
uh James Tyrell was a servant of
Richards he was the one who organized it
and employed two henchmen to carry out
his dirty
work here he describes in detail how the
two murderers sort of crept in at
midnight and smothered the boys with
pillows hard into their
mouths is there any physical evidence
that the bo boys were murdered
here well there is in 1674 King Charles
II was on the throne and he ordered the
demolition of what was left of the old
Royal Palace here the builders
discovered underneath a staircase two
skeletons they were clearly skeletons of
children and the King was in no doubt he
had found the missing princes and so
those remains were buried in Westminster
Abbey scientists examined the bones in
1933 their report concluded that they
were the remains of two children aged
about 9 and 12 years old but the Bones
have never been DNA
tested modern science hasn't been able
to take a look why not ultimately it
requires the permission of The Sovereign
and the late Queen uh though asked would
never Grant it she said whoever those
children were she thought they should
rest in peace so you think those bones
are the princess in the tower I think
there's a very strong likelihood Beyond
Reasonable Doubt H I think when it comes
to the prince is in the tower there's
always going to be
doubt 2 years after the prince's
disappearance Richard III was killed at
the Battle of
Bosworth it was the end of yorkist rule
and the start of the Tudor
dynasty Henry Tudor was crowned Henry
iith philipper is taking Rob to meet an
academic who is one of the increasing
number of historians starting to
question the traditional account of the
prince's
death I've just been with with Tracy
bourman and in nutshell she gave me the
Thomas Moore account you know trell did
it and we've got manini those sources
certainly according to Tracy are pretty
compelling why are those sources wrong
well it's the old cliche isn't it that
history is written by The Victors Henry
iith did a very good job getting rid of
documents of Richard II's reign of
rewriting accounts of having documents
disposed of and he's writing his of
history and it's the one we've inherited
okay imagine I'm asking questions in
front of the jury manini right was he
there is he a reliable source uh no and
no we are dealing with rumor this isn't
some official document coming out of
London this is the report of someone who
barely speaks English and it's not even
conclusive the document says that
there's silence around the boys that we
don't there's no mention of murder yeah
I agree with that and the idea of
killing a child this is a Catholic
Nation you don't kill children help me
them with more right he's got a culprit
he's got a suspect Ty we're talking 50
years down the line when we get some
more and we're talking entirely
different agenda world viiew so anything
he's writing is a version of events that
serves him in his present day there's a
fly in the ointment here Yanina you know
we're proceeding on the basis that
there's no body
but there were bones discovered and you
know they were buried at the time as if
they were the princes in the tower
without DNA analysis you cannot be that
precise say this one's nine this one's
12 I mean that is a a a story that has
been imposed on these bones even to the
point where they're named as Edward and
Richard from the beginning of the report
I mean talk about making the evidence
suit your story if Richard III didn't
kill his nephews the princes in the
tower that we've come to know then what
happened to them they're illegitimate he
doesn't want to commit murder and he
doesn't need to at this point so taking
these two princes somewhere else to me
seems like the most logical
situation after taking the throne by
Conquest Henry iith needed to unify the
Waring houses of York and Lancaster what
does Henry do once he puts that crown on
and he ends up being being Henry iith
well in order to stabilize England and
his position as King He swore to marry
Elizabeth of York the prince's sister
but in order to do that he has to Rel
legitimize Edward IV's
children 3 months after his coronation
Henry iith married Elizabeth of
York the marriage changed the legal
position of her brothers the
princes they were no no longer
illegitimate if they had survived they
were now a threat to Henry's
Crown so then we now get a really
interesting development my Research
indicates that Henry went searching high
and low for the princes and he orders
searches of Richard's properties and the
Tower of London but he finds nothing so
why would he go looking for them if he
was sure they were dead is the point
yeah exactly why
the thing that's fascinating to me after
spending time with Yanina is that Henry
appears to have destroyed a lot of the
evidence so what do we do where do we go
so we need to go to Europe we need to
find out what my research team has
discovered there Europe why Henry's
reach just didn't get there so Europe is
an absolute Treasure Trove of
information
historian Philippa Langley is taking
criminal barister Rob rinda to examine
new evidence that she believes overturns
the established history that Richard
iiii murdered the princes in the tower
so tell me where are we going you're
delightful company but I'm just slightly
concerned this is a Richard III
kidnapping situation no trust me you're
safe I know where I'm going I know what
I'm going to be showing you yeah but I'm
not telling
you the Royal Brothers had extended
family in positions of power across
Europe making the archives of cities
like Neil a logical place for philippa's
research team to
investigate can I introduce you to Rob
rinda yes of course Rob this is Natalie
NY love you to meet
so how did you end up in this community
doing this well I think it was my love
for history and combined with my legal
backgrounds as a criminal
lawyer you give me a lawyer just to
throw well I thought it would make you
feel at home
right Natalie has spent the last seven
years combing through archives across
Europe when we found these documents we
can't believe what we read
it was a completely shocking moment I
know a bit about what's coming but I've
not seen the real thing and I've been
waiting for this for a long
time this is a lot of promise for a
document natal and pH it's not going to
underd deliver here it is is you seem to
be very excited wow here it is
gosh this is incredible to see it I mean
this is history right here it is is it's
remarkable it's more than 500 years old
I can feel your excitement both of you
but what am I looking at well you are
looking at a receipt from the year
4087 for King maximilan who's that King
of the Holy Roman
Empire King maximilan was the head of
the powerful Holy Roman Empire which
controlled vast SES of what is now
modern Europe
and this is a receipt for what he
ordered 400 long
Pikes and it was used by maximilian's Al
troops in 1487 a yorkist army invaded
England most historians believe the
attack was led by an impostor backed by
European royalty like King
Maximillion okay so why is this
important the receipt says in medieval
French these Pikes were to be
distributed among the German Swiss
pikemen whom Madame The Dowager sent at
that time to serve her nephew son of
King Edward who was expelled from his
Dominion this document is really
important because it's telling us that
the force for 1487 that was going to
invade England was for the son of King
Edward IV the Elder prince in the
tower
have you ever seen any reference to well
the boy being alive before like this no
no that's why it's so unique we never
ever thought did we that something like
this would exist and yet here it is in a
simple accounting record filed away
under loads of other records just lost
just literally slotted in
there Madame the dger now who's that is
that referring to this is referring to
Margaret of York also known as Margaret
of burgundy and she's the sister of Rich
III and Edward IV so she's the prince's
Aunt she's the prince's Aunt hugely
important in this story well just to be
clear it means that Margaret of burgundy
who is Edward's aunt is buying these
weapons because she believes for sure
that the boy MH is definitely her nephew
yes but the document doesn't actually
name the Elder Prince it just says her
nephew so it could have been the younger
Prince no it must have been the Elder
boy because he was about 16 it says
expelled from his Dominion which
suggests the elder brother because he
would have been crowned King right
description her nephew and son of King
Edward so You' got four pointers there
to tell us who this was how is it
conclusive it's not a chronic
it's not somebody writing afterwards
it's just an accounting receipt right
this isn't from a historian there's no
bias here it's just ordering Goods yeah
and people don't order goods like this
unless they're confident about who it's
for yeah absolutely that's why it's
persuasive so who signs or who gives
their stamp on this document it's signed
by not just one secretary right for
Maximillian but then he gets it double
Che checked by two other leading members
of Max Milan's court so they are saying
this is accurate and these three men
that work for Max Millan believed that
this was the older of the boys yeah and
it's very specific wording and these are
very high court
officials
I can really understand Natalie and of
course Philip's excitement here we have
a document which mentions one of the
princes this document on the face of it
is proof of life and what's more it's
written by an accountant not a historian
not any person that's got any bias
that's the excitement on the other hand
who is this Margaret of burgundy what
motivations might she have had to invade
England
the prince's aunt and Richard III's
Sister Margaret of burgundy was one of
the most powerful women in medieval
Europe back in the 1480s mecin was a
busy City and the center of her power
Philippa has brought Rob to meet a
historian to find out why Margaret may
have supported an invasion what was she
she I mean like so she's a very visible
figure she's probably nearly six' tall
and she's very very intelligent very
well
educated so who is Margaret of burgundy
to King maximilan he is her stepson
in-law so it's not not the closest of
relationships but Maximillion very much
relies on Margaret's
counsel in burgundy she's absolutely
beloved Everyone likes her maximilan
loves her and the people who serve her
seem to really liked her even foreign
rulers seem to have really liked her
nobody has a bad word to say about
Margaret and then we get the English
sources Henry I 7th Henry chuda calls
her the Diabolical Duchess there another
chudah source that says she's like a dog
returning to her old vomit oh my God
it's like we're looking at a different
woman an entirely different woman you're
saying is that it's really the Henry
chuda Court perhaps him himself and his
historians that paint this picture of
Margaret burgundy but if you go to the
sources here you get a totally different
picture of her and I think that's really
the point we are very much seeing a
Margaret that has been constructed in a
negative sense in English sources her
brother Richard who is killed by Henry
iith do we know how she felt about that
and towards Henry II she absolutely
loads Henry she draws yiss to her really
just by virtue of who she is she is the
last remaining yorkist in an independent
and prominent position she's trying to
get back the throne for the yorkists
would you say that absolutely she is
undoubtedly no friend of Henry chuda if
she can work towards putting someone
else on the throne and I think it's
clear that Margaret absolutely would do
that it sounds like Margaret had the
motivation and the means to help support
an
invasion but the critical question
remains is one receip for weapon for a
son of Edward IV enough to be confident
that they
survive and was it the Elder Prince or
an imposter who was preparing to fight
for the
crown I'm just thinking back to that
receipt and I'm really curious about
Edward if that really was him where has
he been living all this
time I found a lot of smaller references
that suggest he was in the north of
England that he got sent to the channel
line ISS and I also think that he spent
some time with
Margaret this receipt for weapons and
the support from maximilan and from
Margaret where's this all leading to
well by this time he was 16 and thanks
to Henry iith he was no longer a bastard
so he could claim the throne and I think
the evidence suggests that he was
amassing an Army to invade
the First yorkist Fleet backed by
European royalty set sail for Ireland in
the spring of
1487 this is where the fleet arrived
from Holland and also you had the
English Rebels arriving as well so you
have this massive convergence happening
all gathered for one purpose to seize
the crown from Henry chuda and put a
yorkist on the
throne based on the new findings
Philippa believes the invasion's leader
was Edward the older
Prince traditional history tells us the
force was headed by Lambert simnel a
10-year-old boy pretending to be a yor
FOC
air Philip has taken Rob to meet a
historian who like her questions the
established
story hi Matt can I introduce you to Rob
rinda hi how you I'm Matt nice to meet
you welcome Matt is the chairman of the
Richard I thir Society all right welcome
to Dublin
Cathedral I think one of the most
interesting and important events in late
medieval history took place here on the
27th of May
1487 my reading of the evidence is that
the Elder of the princes in the tower
Edward came here to undergo a
coronation I believe all of that Lambert
simal business is Big smoke and mirrors
thrown up around what would have been a
hugely threatening moment for Henry
viith Matt what's your evidence for
believing that this was a
coronation of the older of the princes
in the Tower so one of the people who's
here for the coronation is a guy called
John deole who is the Earl of Lincoln he
is another cousin to the princes in the
tower he's the senior yorkist Heir he's
considered next in line to the throne so
if you want someone to Champion to
replace Henry I 7th on the throne John
deole is the man you would go to but he
comes here to attend this coronation for
Edward so what you believed happened
here was that a 16 and 1 half-year-old
Prince Edward was sitting here being
crowned by well significant members of
the church and the Irish nobility and
others who showed up in force and it's
only later that they've said it was
actually a 10-year-old and it's all made
up that's what I believe it was a huge
political moment but a huge spiritual
moment nobody would undertake that
ceremony lightly and no one would want
to do that to the 10-year-old boy from
Oxford clearly there was a boy crowned
here they went through a ceremony a
religious
ceremony whether or not that means that
that's one of the boys in the tower I'm
not yet confident about but applying my
dispassionate mind that's certainly some
evidence that the older boy Edward at
Prince L Tower could could have been the
person that they crowned
here there's no doubt that there was a
coronation in
Dublin philipper believes the ceremony
was for Edward V the older of the
princes in the
tower the established story is rather
different robs in London to find out
more so Nathan as I'm stand it from mat
the coronation was for Edward V the
oldest of the boys in the tower the son
of Edward IV he lives and that's why
they're there are they right I would
have to contradict Matt's version of
events the conspiracy taking place in
Dublin was not about Edward the 5ifth it
was about his younger cousin Edward the
Earl of
Warick so in a nutshell Lambert simel
was impersonating not Edward V but his
younger cousin another Ed W the ear of
Warick
exactly but I've got to put it to you
Nathan an our M of ships show up to
attend this coronation from across
Europe there are noblemen as well as
churchmen that are there to see a prince
crown half of his support are the Irish
Ireland during the 15th century was a
staunchly yorkist aisle so I can fully
believe that the Irish believe what
they've been told by the conspiracies
leaders that this boy truly is the house
of York that answers why they would do
this coronation before God on the other
half of this Amada they're simple German
mercenaries they are following the coin
so they're just paid soldiers they're
just paid soldiers sent over from the
low countries to make an easy
living on the one hand I listened to
Nathan and that's a traditional view of
history and what he has to say is pretty
compelling but then you're alongside
philipper and you imagine those people
attending that
coronation and that's also pretty
compelling as
well throw in that receipt for weapons
in Le that says a son of Edward
IV it's very difficult to know where you
land and at the moment I've got to be be
clear I'm not
sure a week after the Dublin coronation
the First yorkist Fleet invaded
England Matt philipper and Rob have come
to the field where Philippa believes the
Elder Prince fought to regain the throne
welcome to the site of the battle of
stoke in
1487 this was the site of the last
pitched Battle of the wars of the Roses
that kind of 30 odd year fight for the
crown of
England thousands of men crowded this
field many of them traveled huge
distances to be here and many of them
would never walk off this field
alive it's really humbling to think
about all the men who died
here now the question is is is it Edward
or some person called Lambert simal that
is the big question if I'm a mercenary a
professional Soldier I might start
laughing when someone says we want you
to follow this 10-year-old boy into
battle and are they going to show up for
somebody called Lambert simol would you
no so what's the outcome what happens
how does it play out we know that they
Clash there is a huge confrontation and
I think this is where Edward's Army
struggles against it its own makeup
there are desperate amounts of Flemish
soldiers Swiss and German mercenaries
Irish KS also some Englishmen who have
joined the force they're just so so
smashed together they're a bad team they
were just a bad team badly organized uh
and they they end up being routed One
Source talks about the field being lited
with bodies that were pricked like
hedgehogs with arrows after the battle
this really is like a scene from Game of
Thrones or something it is it would have
been horrific to see what was happening
there but then there's this name at the
center of it
Edward what happened to him we don't
know this is the frustrating part we
don't have a record of what happened to
him after that what did the sources
written by Henry II Henry Judah say
about what happened to the person that
led this Army they're at Great pains to
tell us the story of this 10-year-old
who is found to be named Lambert simel
he is pardoned by Henry and he puts him
to work in the Royal
kitchens so much of this doesn't make
sense it's really hard to find Clarity
this is the original history being
written by the winners Henry has won the
Battle of stoke field he's kept his
throne he now gets to tell the story and
I think what he does is he creates this
kind of template for a way to deal with
a threat like this and a story is
constructed around this figure who was
never the leader of that Force because
if Edward V is here and has either died
here or has survived this back Henry
can't admit that he can't admit that a
crowned King of the House of York has
just invaded his kingdom because it
would likely cost him his
throne either way the older of the
princes is now out of commission no
longer a
threat but if Henry V 7th has just faced
the greatest threat of his Reign so far
in 1487 from a prince who was 16 and a
half years old he knows that Prince has
a brother who is two or three years
younger than him so he's going to have
to think am I going to face the same
problem in a few years
time thank you Matt good luck with the
rest of your investigation thank you so
much so that could be some total
imposter called Lambert simal or the
real Edward the fth dies on that
Battlefield either way the trail goes
cold so what happens to Richard his
brother the younger of the princess in
the town we have to go back to Europe
now to pick up that
trail so philipo we're back in Holland
we're now trying to find out what
happened to Richard the younger of the
princess well brace yourself because
we're going to another archive we're
going to meet
and she's made the most
extraordinary Discovery have you seen it
I know about it I haven't seen it but I
think it's absolutely
mindblowing so what we're about to see
is is Big just tell him what it was like
for you when you found it well I got
goosebumps because it was so special and
I never had find anything like this
before and also we both couldn't believe
it at first no we couldn't we had to go
over it and over it and over it again to
say okay this is real how long were you
in the archive before you found this I
was already four years searching four
years four years yeah yeah so
intensively searching this document is
like a needle in a hay stack
yes
so right so I've got the document here
for
you okay what is it
rob you are looking at Richard the
younger prince in the tower's Own Story
a sort of witness statement in its own
words
wow where is this from this document
someone actually found it in the 1950s
but they dismissed it and it was quickly
forgotten about it was in our Archive of
loose Acquisitions which is an archive
of documents that don't really belong in
a collection so we don't know anything
about its Providence we don't know where
it's
from what about a date or anything like
that and it seems to be made between
1450 1500 wow yeah so this is within the
period 1450 to 1500 slap bang in the
middle spot on yeah right but having
read it you think this is his voice this
is his voice it's written in the first
person
I yes and we think that the original
would have been written in Latin or
French but this is a copy in Middle
Dutch it looks like Dutch to me I can't
I can't read it at all I made a
transcription here we go okay I was
brought to my brother who was already
there in the Tower of London then what
happens then what happens is we were
separated I was secretly taken into a
room in a place where the lions are
kept Lord Howard came to me and
encouraged me
at last he ordered the guards to leave
and then brought two other men to
me they were called Henry
Percy and Thomas Percy they swore by
Honor and oath to hide me secretly until
certain years were passed you checked
these guys I've checked out all of these
guys and they were there at the time
they were there they were in Richard's
Inner Circle there was have been close
princess it adds to The credibility and
the
reliability of the whole
narrative so whoever is reporting this
um has to know these people these names
we don't know what happen to Edward at
this point cuz they've been separated
but as far as Richard is
concerned the Peres are going to take
care of
himar then what happens then they shaved
my hair
and put a poor and drab skirt on
me and we went to St
Catherine's St Catherine's
dockyard there they took a
boat and sailed to the Sea and came
ashore in the Junes of Bologna
Su from here Richard stayed in Paris and
he goes on to tell us that he then
traveled across Europe to various cities
before being sailed to
Portugal shortly afterwards Henry Percy
became ill with the plague he told me
that when he died I would have to travel
to Ireland then he died May God save his
soul so Richard says that he then sailed
to Ireland where several Irish Lords
recognized him and accepted him for who
he
was so the people in Ireland acknowledge
Him as Richard II of the princes in the
tower straight away
yes what happens next Philippa right
okay so what happens next I left and
went to my dearest Aunt The Duchess of
burgundy and by the grace of God in a
short time
I will obtain my right to which I was
born okay let me just cuz this is way
more significant than I was expecting
this is a story of of roughly um how
many years do we think 10 10 10 years
years 1483 to 1493 okay key years so if
Richard was alive in 1493 he would have
been 20 years
old could this be the writing of
somebody who is faking a life story if
this is somebody who's trying to be the
younger prince in the tower you make it
very general but he's going into detail
after detail after detail see you're
present at a rare moment both of you of
me being mildly
speechless that is a rare moment the
first we deal in documents as lawyers
and if I saw this statement it would be
a critical break in the case you know
this is a Smoking Gun document there's
no doubt about it but I have to be
skeptical I can't just look at this and
go wow
although it is a wild document it is
truly
something philipper is convinced that
the discovery strongly supports her
theory that Richard the younger Prince
survived the
tower she she's brought Rob to Belgium
to assess further evidence gathered by
her team which they believe supports
this oh go
this
wow so Zoe this is a ruin of where
exactly this is the ruin of the Palace
of Margaret of burgundy this is her
Palace yes she lives here in r IR but it
must have been pretty splend at the time
me she was loaded she was very rich yeah
and if you just look to the to the right
yeah you see an arch right yes yeah so
that's actually called Richard's room
well which Richard is the younger prince
in the tower we think that he stayed
here and she names a special room after
him Richard's room which is
there how do you know this well actually
the account books uh state that after
renovating the palace it's actually
actually called Richard room and I think
what is lovely about this is by this
point when she's renovating this in 1496
the timing is absolutely spoton for the
younger prince in the tower what's he
doing here with Margaret you know in her
retirement Castle well it's a really
important moment because Margaret of
burgundy is pulling all of her resources
and all of Max a million's resources
behind Richard to support him making his
push for the throne so Zoe how do we
know that it was him Richard showed
people three marks on his body that
couldn't be faked three physical signs
what were they one was his eye his mouth
and a mark on his thigh so what's the
evidence for these three marks quite by
chance I found a document in the
Austrian State archive so if you look
here the document is about maximan
meeting with Richard and it states the
reasons why maximian decided to give his
support and his favor to Richards
who's written this account it is written
by one of his French scribes present at
the meeting what when Richard the
Possible prince meets maximilan yes
presents
himself okay so this quite important
evidence this is a really important
evidence yeah we have a transcription
here of the documents and it says my
Lord the Duke of York offers to present
himself and show several Signs by by
which those who knew him would recognize
him especially three natural marks which
he has on his body and which cannot be
counterfeited that is his mouth one of
his eyes and a mark he has on his thigh
so this's evidence that Maximillian
meets this boy this person and he's able
to show three birth marks which only
Richard the younger of the boys in the
tower could have had could have had and
that comes from Max Milan's court at the
right time for Richard Duke of York the
younger prince in the
tower my mind's a washing machine of
Staff I've been following Richard the
younger princess Doran and there have
been two really big shell
documents there may be proof of life
here but the difficulty is I have to
acknowledge that I learned my history in
England in the UK right and Rich III is
the bad King he killed the boys um but
I'm aware of that so every time I'm
looking at a document the most important
thing I have to do is step back and
imagine I know none of it that's so
essential but the reality is that's it's
really hard it's a difficult thing not
to bring your bias to a document but I
have to say there's definitely a lot
here way way way more than I
thought for seven years Philip's team
have been searching for documents that
might shed light on what happened to the
tower today philipper is on her way to
the state archive in the medieval city
of Dresden once a significant part of
the Holy Roman Empire her team has found
a document which she hopes will add
weight to her theory that the younger
Prince survived the tower and was now
working to win the
crown I haven't seen it Rob can't come
so I'm going to be calling him about it
from the archive and I'm getting really
excited she's meeting an expert in
medieval manuscripts who has analyzed
the document hello
welcome so do you want to see it
please it's a really lovely document
now comes the real
treasure the
seals you see
1493 we unfold
it and here we
go isn't it
lovely I can't believe this I mean this
is just wow wow wow wow so at the bottom
you have the signature yeah I can see
Richard of England I can see his his
monogram yeah that's really special I've
never seen that before oh look at that
Richard of
England oh
wow that Royal seal is just incredible
and even the little r at the bottom the
Royal r
but what's really fascinating is it's
the closed crown of a
king that's what this is depicting and
it's the Royal Arms of England I mean
this this is telling
me it's a
king it's
um it's blowing my
mind it's just I'm actually
shaking so Enrique this is a a really
extraordinary document but can you tell
me more about what it actually says so
uh this is Richard Duke of York son of
King Edward I fourth uh pledging 30,000
Florence to Duke Albert of
Saxony um for support in regaining the
Throne of England if he sorry how much
30 30,000 Florence to be paid Within
three months once he has got the Throne
of
England hi dearest travel mate I'm in
the archive in Dresden with Henri we are
looking at this most incredible document
I'm actually shaking at the moment and I
just wish you were here to see it what
did it be found it's a pledge for
30,000 florens from Richard of England
the younger Prince to give to Albert of
Saxony within 3 months of him becoming
King I mean can we can we show Rob
Henri let's have a look yeah I don't
know if you can see this but the Royal
seal here there's a beautiful intact
Royal seal and right at the bottom
there's a tiny little Royal r that is
extraordinary 30,000 Florin a lot of
money back then what are we talking it's
difficult to specify exactly but for
comparison it's the DDP of a medieval
city or a castle or something like that
have to have some there's no nice
putting it balls to go and promise that
sort of some unless you were pretty sure
you were able to deliver on it yeah
100% so how do we know that this is
Richard the younger of the princes and
the boys in the tower how do we know
it's his signature so Rob let me just
read you how the document begins what it
says it says
Richard by the grace of God Duke of York
son and heir of our most revered Lord
and father Edward
IV late King of England and France and
Lord of
Ireland so he's making very clear this
is definitely the younger prince in the
tower I mean well that couldn't be
clearer really could it but but what
about the signature itself can you help
me a little bit without and the writing
it's confident hand obviously a
contemporary hand so what we can be
fairly sure of is the charter is
authentic whoever signed it uh but it's
from that uh time and place it claims uh
to be and it's signed 4th of October
1493 okay so this is just to be clear a
confident hand so that helps us
understand this is somebody who really
was sure about their identity it's
probably the hand of somebody who's
English okay that's very important thank
you Philip you look so happy I am I'm in
seventh heaven at the
moment I just wish you were here thanks
sweetie bye bye bye
bye
this the first time I've seen philipper
since her Dres the moment our Dres the
moment I'm actually looking forward to
seeing her
again we're going to go and meet and
hopefully have a nice
breakfast I need a
coffee good morning morning how are you
doing
today how was Germany oh man it it was
just wild to see that in the flesh mhm
to see that seal oh it was just it was
perfect it's like it had just been made
yesterday you don't expect things like
that to be found you know what I mean so
with all of these documents which I have
to say on the face of them they're slam
dunk yeah right they
are really powerful really exciting kind
of proof of Life do especially for
Richard yeah at the same time you know
still got people who are there with
other reasons why they might support
somebody who isn't Richard to get rid of
Henry iith I've got to be really
thoughtful about what's happening why
Margaret might have supported somebody
else why she wanted to believe that this
person was her nephew why it might not
have mattered because ultimately she
wants to avenge her brother brother at
the same time damn well put someone else
on the throne who is a yorkis or a
yorkis sympathizer do you see what I
mean yeah but then they're they're
blowing fortunes on this person the
other thing you have to remember was
just 7 years before this they put
another total Fortune into the first
Invasion Fleet right and they got none
of that back right it just went so to
invest that amount of money time energy
they just wouldn't do it if they didn't
believe this person was of Royal Blood
and this person was going to be the next
king of England and had the proper claim
to the throne right it's huge amounts of
money when you said you'll bring me to
the beach I thought perhaps I could
bring some sun
cream it's bloming raining it down it's
so bleach
with the new find suggesting that the
man calling himself Richard Duke of York
was raising funds to assemble an army
philippa's team has discovered more
evidence that points to his next move we
found new sources it says that Richard
juk of York assembled his Fleet here in
Zealand okay so Richard juk of York
would mean the younger of the princes
the younger of the
he assembled his his Fleet here for
plans to invade
England however Henry spice got wind of
Richard assembling his Fleet so they
need to make plans to remove their
Fleet the yorkist fleet Is Here Yeah
they realize that Henry V 7 has got wind
of what they're doing so then the fleet
disperses where does it go in Holland
well and that's the interesting thing
his Fleet went up
north they moved their ships secretly by
night one for one so that Henry ships
couldn't notice that he was leaving
Zealand to a remote islands of
tessel okay what's the second piece of
evidence we found in the domain's
accounts in the National Archive in denh
the source about this journey we saw
accounts about Messengers about food
about Secret Letters about men soldiers
to buy ships for The
Invasion with a second yist invasion of
England imminent Henry viith dismisses
the leader as another
impostor other than the name Richard
Duke of York the younger of the princes
in the tower neither of you have seen
Any Other Name none not nothing nothing
none only referring to the Juke of
York the case for Richard surviving the
tower you know is really Gathering Pace
in my mind there's consistent
documentation referring to him by name
there's a large amount of money being
raised on his behalf and he's preparing
to regain the Throne of England by force
but here's a thing can it be believed no
that's the problem with history how do
you separate a story from the
truth it's
1495 the man philipper believes is
Richard Duke of York launches his first
attack on England but the invasion fails
and he takes Refuge with King James ivth
in Scotland
King James treats him as an equal and
finds him a wife a royal cousin but
Henry VI 7's allies and spies at the
Scottish Court are briefing officials
that the man called Richard is actually
impostor two more invasions are launched
but eventually the Army's leader is
captured by Henry iith in
1497 he's then
taken to
London
so Rob we're in the tower it's only a
matter of time for you Philipa let's
face
it Philippa and Rob are meeting a writer
and medieval historian who has spent
years investigating the life of the
alleged impostor
now Henry's finally got his prize
Richard he's caught him yes so I assume
bearing in mind it's the third time
Richard's tried to invade the realm that
Henry just immediately well has him
executed no no far from it he's always
wanted to see this chap alive he's
wanted to talk to him the next thing he
does is he faces him with a confession
that's already been drawn up over years
by Henry spis and he gets him to sign it
he signs a confession yes what name does
he give he gives per Ock which is a
plish version of Perkin
warbeck the official confession states
that the name of the man captured by
Henry is a pretender called Perkin
warbeck a boatman's son from torai in
Flanders so he gets him to sign a
confession that's
pre-prepared what happens then his
treatment of Perkin Richard is
extraordinary he isn't Shackled or bound
at all he's still robed as far as we
know he goes to Westminster Hall and
there it's said he just strolled into
the Hall arm in-arm with an officer of
the Court not chained not in any way
presented as a
prisoner this feels totally Bonkers you
know the traditional view of medieval
kings including Rich III is when you've
got someone in your way you kill them
incl ining your own nephews here we have
Henry who captures Richard or Perkin
who's tried to take his throne at least
three times and he doesn't execute him
he treats him like one of the family
yeah because for several European
monarchs he is one of the family you
have people like maximilan writing to
him and saying if you kill this man you
will have killed your brother in- law
and as long as he promises to be Perkin
warbeck what's the deal he gets his own
tailor he gets his own horse he's not
kept in any sort of confinement he's
allowed to see his wife and she never
requests a divorce and Henry doesn't
make her divorce although one of the few
reasons to get divorc in the Catholic
church is if your husband's a
fraud after months of special treatment
the man now called Perkin warbeck
escapes but is quickly
recaptured this time Henry has lost
patience and he's sent to the to
now he's in a
dungeon he Shackled and he's tortured
and we know this from the Spanish
Ambassador who goes to see him and says
he's desfigurada I.E he's had his face
broken was he just left there to rot
what happened there was a plot made up
that he had decided to blow up the tower
he's charged with treason what happened
to him after the trial is he found
guilty yes
and then he sent for
execution but he does not have the
traitor's death he has a nobleman's
death in fact the sentence for treason
is to be hung drawn and courted yes but
he is only hung and do you think Henry
thought this was Perkin warbeck or the
younger of the boys in the
tower I think he didn't know who he was
and we don't know this story we don't
learn it because we learn the Tudor
narrative right yes we're satisfied with
the Jud narrative and I don't see why
confession or a confession that's
cobbled together by other people and
somebody is forced to sign if it
happened today you wouldn't accept
it this is an extraordinary story an
extraordinary life he's either one of
the greatest conmen in history or he's a
king
Rob is back in Oxford to see Dr Yanina
Ramirez I've traveled across the UK and
what feels like most of Europe being
alongside philipper is without question
know F and there's lots of compelling
evidence but I need another expert who's
not so close to the material to give me
an independent view I think that really
matters to how I'm going to include this
case I need some help I've got to sort
of come to some conclusions about some
of the discoveries that Philip's
research group have made and it's really
hard not to get swept up in it but you
know my job is to well be dis passionate
and make sure the evidence all adds up
yeah new evidence arises in our field
all the time and whenever I'm presented
with it I am thrilled excited but I
absolutely have to scrutinize it to be
100% sure there's a document here from
1487 from the Lil
archive my initial excitement here is
where at the first mention Madam The
Dowager so we're dealing with Margaret
burgundy and then from then this is I
mean this is sort of goose bumpy stuff
serve her nephew son of King Edward who
was expelled from his minion this seems
to me to be not a forgery if you're
going to forge something you might Forge
a diary you might Forge a letter but a
receipt is so sort of nuts and bolts
isn't it this amount of money for this
Margaret is commissioning mercenaries to
fight to travel over that sea and launch
a assault to take the crown I mean is
she going to spend all of this money on
some random called simal who's been
trained to pretend to be King and
absolutely not you know so so as far as
you're concerned this provides
significant evidence and probable cause
to believe that the older of the
princess in the tower was not murdered
on the surface having a look at it in
Translation it's very
compelling Yanina examines two more of
the documents and gives her
assessment the way that the seals have
been attached with the double strips and
the way it's cut through that is all off
the time that's all feels right to
me there's just one more document to
check this was my big wow moment on the
face of it what it looks like is Richard
the younger of the princess of the tower
giving a full account over four pages of
his life it felt very much like a sort
of witness statement I am the real deal
here's my story and boy is it a
story but that is why my alarm bells are
going off it's almost too good true I've
worked with forges before and I know how
a forger's mind worked this to me is the
sort of thing I'd be thinking oh I know
what people would like they would like a
document that says all of these things I
just think it needs an awful lot more
investigation
it's really useful to spend time with an
expert when you're trying to unpick
things and spending time with Yanina
again was just limitlessly
valuable there's a big question mark
over Richard's life story in a nutshell
she thinks it's too good to be true it
could be a
forgery so I really need to investigate
this document further to find out if
it's Kosh or if it's a
fake philippa's coming in and I've got
to give her my opinion about all of the
evidence she's shown me as she's dragged
me halfway around
Europe let's just be
clear philipper has staked a lot on this
document Richard's life story for her in
her words this is a mindblowing moment
and it may very well be compelling who
wrote it we don't know it could have
been an
impostor but if it's not from the time
it's a
non-starter and it's essential that if
we're going to build a foundation of any
conclusion a safe one the starting point
is to be sure absolutely sure that this
document was written at the time and not
some fake the first thing I'm going to
do is call ireni at the gelda
archive I've asked her to conduct
further research what she says is
absolutely
critical hello witha Roger um Ina it's
Rob rinda here hi good morning Rob
you've had a chance I think to conduct
further analysis um on the document was
discovered in the archive yes we have
looked very closely at the
manuscripts one of the experts at the he
is a specialist in medieval documents
and he has seen every single document in
this archive from 1100 until
1500 he sees a lot of similarities
between the archives and the document
from Richard so this person takes a view
looking at that document that the
writing style and the way it's written
makes it look
authentic it does yes the watermark on
the document is another indication that
it is definitely from the era from the
late 15th
century so I emailed you a copy of the
watermark uh because you can't see it
with the naked eye ah yes it's this this
hand here and what does that watermark
on this document tell us
well this specific one was mostly used
during the late 15th century and it was
used in this area so this Watermark
places us bang in the period we want the
end of the
1400s and it looks like the same writing
and the same
style as other documents from the time
and in your view this is an authentic
document
yes we are completely behind the uh
authentication of the
document thank thank you very much
that's as clear as it can be thank you
for that work thank
you the Gilda archive could not be more
conclusive um but that's not enough to
shore up a case you always want two
experts so I've asked Dr Andrew Dunning
who's an expert on medieval manuscripts
at the bodan library in Oxford to
analyze the document as well let's see
what he has to
say hello and hi it's robind hi Andrew
can I ask what your conclusions are
about the document you've analyzed the
document is completely what you'd expect
of a late 15th century semi-formal legal
document it's the script of a trans
scribe uh is a less formal style of a
gotic cursive script and you can see
that this document has been folded
several times it's been folded yeah why
is that significant it's been folded
into a neat little package and that's
often how documents were delivered it's
also how they were often stored in
medieval and really modern archives and
so this document although we don't know
exactly where it came from we can see
that it has a a multi-layered history
nonetheless what about the choice of
words and the punctuation Andrew There
is almost no punctuation whatsoever in
the writing the style of of writing that
you have here is completely consistent
with what you'd expect of the 15th
century if I would to put to you Andrew
that this is a forgery it's a fake what
would your response be If This Were a
forge document this would be a work of
of sheer Genius and I think
possibility that's fascinating Andrew
thank you for your time and also for the
care you've taken with this document
it's enormously
important oh it's an absolute P
yeah I mean wow it's so rare you get an
expert to be that
definitive it's not a forgery but we
don't know who wrote it this could have
been written by anybody so what impact
it has on my conclusion that's for me to
consider were the boys killed in the
tower or could they be the people that
Philippa has shown me Kings or imposters
boys in the tower or not I can't
overstate how seriously I take this if
she's wrong her reputation is at stake
if she's right centuries worth of
history is
wrong just think about the impact of
that this is about as serious as history
gets
I've come down to London today because
I'm going to see Rob in his
Chambers and he's going to give me his
conclusion I'm off the scale anxious
here because I'm going to walk into a
room where I get Rob's conclusion which
way is he going to go is the evidence is
compelling that he's seeing is it not is
he going to go with the 500 years of
tudah propaganda
there's kind of no going
back and I've just got to see what he's
going to
say hi how you doing hi nice to see you
nice to see you you come
in love you
thanks take a seat get some water please
yeah
okay
thanks so Philip at the heart of this
case is whether Richard II murdered his
nephews or not the older one being
Edward the younger one being Richard in
order to gain the throne or could it be
a missing person inquiry and they
survived I'm only interested in the
evidence the evidence that supports
whether or not he killed those boys or
whether they may have escaped and come
to invade England what I'm going to give
you now is a summary of what I consider
to be the conclusion in this case there
are four documents that we stopped at
during our zigzag across Europe one of
them is from the Lil archive and it's
receipt that shows maximilan was
providing an army for Edward the older
of the boys in the tower who was going
to claim his throne in England and I'm
satisfied that that receipt is authentic
and from the time there are further
three documents that have been Unearthed
in respect of the younger of the boys in
the tower
Richard from The Dresden archive
document which is a contract promising
if Richard succeed EDS in taking over
the throne he's going to pay that money
back to Max Million and critically it's
got his signature on it I'm satisfied
that that is an authentic
document the Austrian archive which
again is an account where somebody takes
a note of marks that were on the body of
Richard I am again entirely satisfied
that that is a document from the
time and lastly a document from the
gelda archive and it's from a scribe
which may have been at the
time where a person purporting to be
Richard gives a full Narrative of his
entire
life I along with Yanina Ramirez had
grave doubts about that
document in fact I want to be absolutely
clear with you I took the view that it
was a
fake in 20 years of
practice I haven't ever been wrong about
a piece of paper
being un kusher the want a better way of
putting
it I asked two independent experts World
leading experts in their
field the bad news I'm
afraid is that I was entirely
wrong both of those experts take the
view that it was written precisely at
the period that we're focusing in and in
no way whatsoever is it a forgery from a
later date wow wow thank you now based
on the documents that you've provided me
with on the balance of
probabilities I'm
satisfied that it is perfectly possible
to challenge the traditional narrative
in fact it seems to
me it is highly
plausible that Edward the older of the
boys in the
survived he was not killed in the tower
by Richard III it seems to me more
probable than not but he lived and he
fought at the Battle of stoke where he
may have died we don't know in respect
Richard my view is even
stronger the material you've Unearthed
is more than sufficient to
conclude that this was not a murder that
person who came to be known in history
as Perkin warbeck was the younger of the
boys in the tower not only did Edward
and Richard survive the
tower but they lived they continued to
live on they tried to invade England
failed you Philip Al langy along with
your team in Europe may just have
solved the greatest mystery in British
history
wow thank
you thank
you
thank you thank you for doing this for
me thank
you I'm
shaking you know that was big news
heavens above that was big news because
Rob Rob is no idiot he's tough so I'm
Overjoyed I'm thrilled it's overwhelming
because we've had 500 years of this
story being rolled out and
repeated we've changed that now we've
completely changed the conversation they
say lightning doesn't strike twice but
uh in your case it may have
done I no doubt that Philip's work is
going to cause controversy it's going to
cause a ripple in the world but the
reality is Philip's account is more
persuasive based on the evidence your
work continues right it does see you see
you see you now here's the exciting
thing I may be
wrong but that's not what this is
about one thing this trip has shown me
more than anything else is that we
should always question history who gets
to write it and who's believed what's
fact and what's
propaganda history is for
everybody now it's up to the rest of the
world to see what they
think