Hannah McMorrow

In his will, the late king named his younger brother, Richard, then the Duke of Gloucester, as Lord Protectorate to help his son rule when the time came.

something his mum's side of the family, the Woodvilles, weren't ecstatic about.

Little Edward had been raised in a drafty Staffordshire castle under the tutelage of his maternal uncle, Anthony Woodville, who would become pretty much his only father figure.

Now Edward was being sized up for the top job, Anthony Woodville was keen to stay by his side.

Together with the royal council, the Woodvilles scrambled to find a way to prevent Richard from being the only one in charge of Edward.

Possibly because they didn't approve of the idea of one person having so much power, and also probably because they wanted a slice of that pie for themselves.

After ruling that Richard should not be Edward's only advisor, the council pencilled in a hasty coronation date, the 4th of May, to secure his proper ascension.

But when he heard the rumours of people trying to muscle in on his protection of little Eddie from his castle in York, Richard was not having it.

Maybe, you are thinking, the infamous Bloody Tower, home of countless imprisonments and executions, surely Edward's alarm bells would be ringing by now.

Well, actually, no, not really, because back then, the Tower was like a little mini town with shops, 15 pubs, a royal armory, a menagerie, and a grand royal palace.

And also the prison.

Most castles have dungeons.

You've got to.

Where are you going to put them?

It was actually customary for future royals to spend their pre-coronation period in the Tower.

But while an oblivious young Edward might not have felt anything amiss...

Tension was heating up between his warring rivals.

His mum Elizabeth grew so fearful of her brother-in-law that she took the rest of her kids, including nine-year-old Richard, into a sanctuary at Westminster Abbey.

Assuring Elizabeth that he was definitely going to get Edward crowned, the older Richard eventually managed to coax her into letting him take little Richard.

As I said, there's only four names.