DEATH OF KING EDWARD IV

DEATH OF KING EDWARD IV

On Good Friday, 30th March 1483, King Edward was on a fishing trip, when he was stricken with a sudden illness.

Edward took to his bed at Westminster Palace, where his illness worsened.

The once strong and warlike King Edward IV of England, died in his bed on 9th April 1483, aged only forty.

The exact cause of King Edward IV’s death is not certain.

Some writers at the time believed his fever and chills indicated malaria or pneumonia, while others believed he had suffered from a stroke.
In 2023, it was put forward that Edward’s death could have been a result of syphilis.

King Edward was buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on 19th April 1483.

After Edward’s death his brother Richard usurped the throne from Edward’s eldest son and heir – the young King, Edward V.

Richard placed his nephews – the boy king Edward and his brother Richard – in the Tower of London.
Here, they disappeared forever.
They would be known to history as the Princes in the Tower.

Richard crowned himself as Richard III, but just two short years later, he lost the throne to Henry Tudor, at the Battle of Bosworth.

? Edward IV’s tomb in St Georges Chapel, Windsor.
.