In 1483, two boys, aged 12 and nine, went into the Tower of London. They never came out. Today, 538 years later, we still don’t know what happened to King Edward V and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury. We likely never will.

Alexander Voltz

Alexander Voltz

The ultimate fate of the Princes in the Tower is one of the most harrowing and divisive unsolved mysteries of the Middle Ages. While the Princes are represented in portraiture and literature, I could scarcely find them in other artistic mediums. So, in late 2018, after another venture of mine fell through, I decided I would try my hand at telling their story through music.

At the time, I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do that. A song cycle? An oratorio? The history side of things made this my biggest musical project to date. So, that’s where I started, with the Princes and the primary historical sources surrounding them. I memorised family trees. I established timelines. I followed shadows and found their secrets.

When it comes to the Princes in the Tower, there are three broad hypotheses....