Princes in the Tower

In 1674, the skeletons of two children were found under this stairwell in London’s White Tower, from where they were removed and buried in Westminster Abbey. They were thought to be the remains of young king Edward V and his little brother the Duke of York, aged 12 and 9 respectively, better known as the Princes in the Tower. The then king, Charles II, was sensitive to his own brushes with royal killers and denials of a throne, and was keen to give them posthumous honours and dignity. 

Who murdered them remains a mystery. Who ordered the murders is also unknown, but several suspects stood to gain much from it, chiefly Richard III, Henry VII and the Duke of Buckingham. The children had done nothing to offend these powerful lords, but their descent from King Edward IV was a roadblock to their own ambitions. At least one of them therefore ordered their deaths. They were hated because of who and what they were rather than anything they had done. 

Why does Satan hate human beings? Why did he seek to lead them astray into that state of rebellion against God, with its attendant suffering and death? Our parents had done nothing to offend him. Rather, it was their special relationship with the Creator. Made in His image, exercising His authority, loved by Him more than any angel, the prince of hell loathed these children of God. By luring them to the knowledge of good and evil, anticipating their expulsion from Eden and denial of access to the Tree of Life, he correctly calculated their demise. Unable to hurt the God whom he hated, instead he sought to harm the apples of His eye. Through sin, he locked humanity into the dungeons of iniquity, facing inevitable death and judgement. Thank God, our murdered race was not just given a posh funeral in Westminster Abbey. Rather, we were raised to life again through the gospel, readmitted to Eden’s joy and reunited to the Father through Jesus the Son.

I know not who killed those little lads, but one day it will be shouted from the rooftops. In Christ, the princes of earth are released from sin’s towers, that the crowns and thrones of Adam might once more be enjoyed.