SPE
ECTION
FOR
HONGK
THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER
Who was the guilty man .......?
asks Henry Lewis
in
AN army of 2,000 soldiers clattered cast on its way to London. In its midst, în
command, rode a man and a boy.
The boy, in robes of blue velvet, was the king of England, 12-year-old Edward V. It was April 1483 and his father, Edward IV, had just died. Now Edward was on his way from Wales to London for his Coronation.
The man with him, dressed, all in black, one shoulder
permanently hunched higher than the other, was his 31-year-old uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
He was the boy king's official Protector and his authority was equal to the
King's.
They came to London to shouts of: "God save the King, Long live King Edward."
The first question was where the King
to
It
was make his home, Bucking- ham Palace was not yet, of
built. The course, choice was Westminster, a priory at Clerkenwell or the Tower of London. was the Duke of Bucking- ham. then a crony of Richard's, who suggested the Tower. And so the boy King went to the Tower. He was never to leave it again.
Postponed
on
Preparations went for his Coronation, first to be held on May 4, then, at Richard's doing, post- poned to June 22. The little King wrote letters summoning his knights to the Coronation. Visitors poured into
capital for the day.
-
the
To keep the 12-year- old King happy Richard got the Archbishop of Canterbury to go to West- minster where the Queen, Edward's mother, lived with her other son, 10- year-old Richard, Duke of York. The Archbishop
The
fetched the younger boy to play with the King. He too entered the Tover
never to leave it. But for the time being the brothers were happy enough, playing with bows and arrows when there were
no State ppers to be signed.
Now the Coronation was postponed again. To November. And now
Richard made his purpose clear. He wanted to be more than Protector. He wanted to be King. And he asked Parliament to declare him King instead of Edward on the grounds that the marriage Edward IV and his Queen had not been a legal one.
of
headed a rebellion, RC- cusing Richard of tyranny and cruelty. Richard was killed on Bosworth Field and Richmond ba- came King Henry VII.
Wicked uncle
It is difficult to establish just when rumours began to circulate that the boys had been murdered.
As the years. passed the stories mounted in num- ber. The bodies were said to have been weighted and thrown inte the Thames.
But all searches failed to And them.
A skeleton was found at the Tower and there was some excitement. But it was the skeleton of
ape.
an
Parliament agreed and Richard became Richard III. It was sensational. But the British people
Then in 1674 workmen, seem to have accepted the knocking down an old switch without particular
staircase from the White excitement. Richard was
Tower found
chest popular.
under sane stones.
· merely
In it changed their cries to:
were bones. Charles II's
chief "Long live King Richard."
examined surgeon them and said they were Richard
now began arranging his
all that was left of own
two boys. Meanwhile
Coronation.
They
the Princes were moved There seemed little into a stronger part of doubt and Sir Christopher the Tower of London- Wren designed a memorial the White Tower.
and Their
the remains were servants were barred from moved to Westminster
Abbey.
them.
On July 6 Richard was crowned and set off on a tour of his kingdom. Glimpses of the boys be- came fewer and fewer.
Richard's reign 1:sted only two years. Then the Earl of Richmond
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In 1933 the tomb was opened for 20th cen- tury scientific examination of the bones. Modern science confirmed that the bones were those of two boys one aged 12 to 13 and the other nine to 11.
The
By Ted Thomas
·
Hit
;
The skull of the older boy bore marks suggesting ' suffocation.
They must have been the bones of the princes. But who killed them?
For
many years history books
all made Richard III the wicked uncle. That story goes like this.
Richard, safely in country, sends a message
Robert to Sir
constable bury. Tower, saying: boys."
the
Bracken-
of "Kill
the
the
But Brackeḥbury re- plies: "I won't do it."
Sir
James
So now Richard sends with Tyrrel orders to Brackenbury that all he need do is hand over the keys of the Tower for one night. Brackenbury obeys, hands the keys to Tyrrel, who admits to the White Tower two rough-necks, a groom and a warder named Dighton and For- Test.
At midnight they creep into the boys' room. The boys
asleep. are
The villains take hold of the corners of the bedclothes, then whip them over the heads of the boys and press them down over the boys' faces until the ex- King : and his brother breathe no more.
But. this story so followed by Shakespeare -has just one source- Sir Thomas More's His-
Parade
1. My Home Town-Paul Anka,
torie
of Kyng Richarde the Third written in 1513, about 30 years after the boys' deaths.
It is strange that there is no account of the mur- der written at the time; More's is the earliest we have. It is even stranger that though Heary VII accused Richard NI of almost every crime in the book, he never accused him of murdering princes.
the
Better motive
Some historians point out that Richard had nothing to gain by killing the boys; his right to the throte had been. Te- cognised by Parliament so the boys were no danger to him.
He did not bother. other, heirs of whom there were a number. He had always been kind to the boy King even though he took his throne. He stayed friends with the princes' mother. Richard would
2. Goodnight Sweetheart Cha Cha-Enoch Light,
Biology-Danny Valentino.
Am So Easy to Forget?-Debbie Reynolds. Young at Heart Cha Cha Tommy Thomas. Cradle of Love-Johnny Preston.
3.
4.
WHO
5.
is the most
6.
7.
She's Mine-Conway Twitty.
popular "pop". singer in Hongkong? Elvis or Pat? We asked readers and lis- teners to vote on this thorny question...and the result? A close win
our
for Pat Boone.
Votes: Pat
Elvis Ricky
8. Where Are You?-Frankie Avalon.
9. Everybody's Somebody's Föol-Connie Francis.
Oh, My, You-The Poni-talls.
One of Us-Patti .Page.
10.
11.
12.
Amapola--The Platters.
13.
Spring Rain-Pat Boone.
14.
Look for a Star--Part 1-Garry Miles.
15. Young Emotions-Ricky Nelson.
16.
116 102
17.
18.
9
19.
20.
Nobody asked for an opinion on Ricky Nelson, but his loyal fans were de- termined to get Into the act, and sent in their votes. So now there can be по question: Hongkong teen. agers go for Pat
ask for Don't anybody my opinion.. . I'm neutral!
·
NEXT week we're looking
the most popular female Hit Parader, My bet is for either Patti Page
Francis. or Connie
What do you think? Let's have those votes at once.
JOHNNY Ray, just out of
after having to undergo an operation for a lung infection, is now back and on tipice for the plunge back into the burdy gurdy of show busi
Exclusively Yours Carl Dobkins Jr.
Just for the Touch of Your Love—Debbie Reynolds. Banjo Boy-Art Mooney.
A Star is Born--Mark Dinning.
My Dear Little Sweetheart—Sarah Vaughan.
**
Watch for a quick come- back by this versatile
man, who young
has always enjoyed one of the most active fan clubs In the field.
Mr Ray is determined to make up for lost time. and my bet is that this re- markable young man will come back into the best selling charts with his first
disc. br second “return”
•
TOP Rank has failed, The
Yiillion new label, a pound gamble to latínch a new line in popular masio folded up last Tuesday with the
annoïïeement
that the organisatión back-
ed by the powerful filmi - kriðustry, --has
Rank
been
sold out to the zhmoth E.M.L concertí.
So ends a short era fast-
Ing only eighteen months. distri. Top Rank suffered bution troubles from the start, but managed to launch such British Hits as "Only Sixteen”. "The Little Drummer Boy" and had even squeezed a couple Into the Hongkong Hit Parade some months ago.
་
It's a tough business. Hits here and there department
the United
States,
I Bran Hyland's "Polka
fa
Dot Bikini"unner up last week, tới từng làm Borry" by Brenda Lee,
CIIN RICHärds'
Please don't Tease” is still dumbër dne
In Britain, with "Apache" by The Shadows; holding second place.
This was what happėsed
or was it?
have known that he could not have got away
with such a murder
for ever as King he would have been called on to explain the boys' disappearance at some time or the other. And he could easily have faked their deaths from
fever or arranged an ac- cident to thern if he had really wanted to get rid of them.
If it wasn't Richard, who was It?
Some historians, among them Horace Walpole, plump for Henry VII. He had a better motive, they say, in that he had no right of succession to the throne as the boys had. Therefore he had more reason to fear them.
Another odd feature is that he heaped hünours on Tyrrel (his pay off?) then beheaded him.
He said Tyrrel had con- fessed to the murders. If he had done so why did not Henry · have Tyrrel tried publicly?
NOTICE
BOARD
LOUELLA SZETO: Enough said on a painful subject.
AHMED S. AHMED: Extra credit card is article - this
for week (as än- nounced last Saturday in this column). Negative and pix en route to you try again.
LINDA-CHRISTINE SUN: Credit cards transferred, and 'Debutante' réceived,
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