Princes in the Tower is a 2005 Made-for-TV Movie starring Mark Umbers as Perkin Warbeck, a young man who claims to be Richard of Shrewsbury, one of the famous Princes in the Tower and the rightful king. Eight years after the end of the Wars of the Roses, he visits the court of Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, who wonders whether the man could really be her lost brother.
This film provides examples of:
- The Bad Guy Wins: Margaret Beaufort's son stays secure on the throne thanks to her heinous actions. Plus Perkin is executed, and history wrongly says that Richard III murdered the boys.
- Happily Arranged Marriage: Henry VII and Elizabeth of York love each other, and she is torn about the possible survival of her brother.
- The Fate of the Princes in the Tower: The film explores the possibility that one of the Princes in the Tower survived.
- Fate Worse than Death: The ultimate fate of the princes, being locked away, chained up and unable to communicate, is shown to be this.
- Genuine Imposter: The film teases this as a possibility.
- Hidden Back Up Prince: Did someone spirt away one of the princes?
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Turns out Richard III didn't kill his nephews after all.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Margaret Beaufort is evil.
- Long-Lost Relative: Elizabeth of York faces the possibility that her youngest brother is alive and a grown man.
- The Reveal: Perkin is a fraud. The princes are alive, with their tongues cut out, still locked in the tower by Margaret Beaufort.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Perkin claims this of Henry Tudor, but the film actually presents the well-meaning fraud Perkin as possibly this.
