The story of the two Edwards, the only kings of England never to be crowned

They say habit makes the monk… and the king, his crown. But in the history of the British royal family, not all monarchs had the opportunity to wear the typical emblem of their reign on their heads.

Since the year 1066, about 39 monarchs have been crowned King or Queen of England, all in the traditional and very picturesque Westminster Abbey.

In that year, William I, better known as William the Conqueror, was crowned, beginning a tradition that will have its next (and long-awaited) chapter on May 6, the date of Carlos III’s coronation ceremony following Isabel II’s death past 8 September.

In general, it is tradition that a time after the death of a king or queen to proceed with the coronation of a successor.

Which has meant that not all people who have officially been king of England have had the privilege of seeing the crown on their head.

One of the most famous cases is that of Edward VIII, who, after almost a year as British sovereign, decided to abdicate in 1936 in favor of his younger brother – later known as George VI -, actually out of love.

History also knows of another king who was never crowned: Edward V, who was deposed in 1483 and after spending three months on the British throne at just 12 years old and later disappeared (believed to have been murdered).

His story caused a great shock in the nation, even inspiring William Shakespeare to write his famous work “Ricardo III”.

At BBC Mundo we tell you a little about the history of the two Eduardos who were never crowned.

The Princes in the Tower

In the fifteenth century, the United Kingdom plunged into one of the bloodiest conflicts for royal power: the War of the Roses.

Within the countless chapters in the confrontation between the Houses of Lancaster and York for the throne, a most extraordinary and brutal event occurred almost towards the end: the disappearance of a king and his brother at the hands of their uncle.

The king was Edward V. According to BBC History, he was the eldest son of Edward IV, who had won one of the most important victories in the War of the Roses and, therefore he had kept the British crown.

Edward IV died in June 1483 and his eldest son was immediately proclaimed king under the name of Edward V, aged just 12.

England had still not achieved political stability after the long and costly internal conflict.

Being a minor, the uncle of the new king and brother of the recently deceased, the Duke of Gloucester, was appointed protector of the young monarch until he came of age.

However, as British historian Anthony James Pollard notes in his book “The Princes of the Tower”, the Protector began to have conflicts with the nobles of the court, and three months after Edward V’s accession, he decided to stage a coup. : ordered the arrest of the nobles and took Edward V and his brother –and at that time heir to the throne Ricardo and imprisoned them in the famous tower of London.

A plot was then hatched and documented in an Act of Parliament on 26 June that year: the MPs accepted the Duke of Gloucester’s complaint that both Edward V and his brother Ricardo were illegitimate children of Edward IV, so they had no right to to inherit the crown.

Both Edward V and his brother Richard, then Duke of York, were never seen alive again. and many historians accuse the Duke of Gloucester of murdering them, though there have never been any conclusive tests or documents to confirm this.

Therefore, Edward V could never be crowned. And so far his remains have not been identified.

In the same Act of Parliament of 26 June 1483, the Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed the new King of England.

It would take the name Ricardo III.

Edward VIII, the king in love

It would be nearly 500 years and dozens of monarchs before another king would not have his crown.

On January 20, 1936, George V, King of England, who had reigned for 26 years, died at Sandringham House at the age of 70.

At the same time, his eldest son rose to the highest rank in the British monarchy and took the name Edward VIII.

But there was a problem: In the years before his father’s death, then-Prince Edward had had several romances, some involving married women.

So it was that he fell in love with the American Wallis Simpson, who at the time of her courtship with the future king was still officially legally married to her former husband, Ernest Simpson.

But in October 1936 nine months after Edward VIII’s accession to the throne, Wallis got a divorce.

The idea was that she could marry the monarch and become Queen of England.

Then the problems started. In his book Prime Ministers from Balfour to Brown, historian Robert Pearce notes that both the then Prime Minister, Stephen Baldwin, and religious leaders advised him not to marry a recently divorced woman.

They argued that as King of England he was the head of the Anglican Church, whose adherents would not take kindly to for their king to marry a newly divorced woman.

Eduardo suggested several alternatives, none of which convinced his advisers and religious leaders.

After a little over a month of dialogue and negotiation attempts, Edward VIII himself decided that if he could not marry Simpson, he would abdicate. This came to fruition on December 11, 1936.

He was the first British king to abdicate voluntarily. His brother, Prince George – and father of the future Queen Elizabeth II – ascended the throne.

Edward VIII lost all his noble privileges, although he was called Duke of Windsor, but he had to move to another country.

He would die in 1972 in his hometown in the south of France, where he lived with his wife Wallis Simpson.