The Princes in the Tower refers to the mystery of the fate of the deposed Edward V of England and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, heirs to the throne of King Edward IV of England. The brothers were the only sons of the king by his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, living at the time of their father's death in 1483. Aged 12 and 9 years old, respectively, they were lodged in the Tower of London by their paternal uncle and England's regent, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, supposedly in preparation for Edward V's forthcoming coronation. Before the young king could be crowned, he and his brother were declared illegitimate. Gloucester ascended the throne as Richard III.
Adam Loftus, 1st Viscount Loftus, was Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1619 and from 1622 raised to the peerage of Ireland as Viscount Loftus of Ely, King's County. His uncle, another Adam Loftus, was both Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Church of Ireland primate.
Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, was the sixth child and second son of King Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville, born in Shrewsbury. Richard and his older brother, who briefly reigned as King Edward V of England, mysteriously disappeared shortly after their uncle Richard III became king in 1483.
Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, styled Lord Naas from 1842 to 1867 and Lord Mayo in India, was a British statesman and prominent member of the British Conservative Party who served as Chief Secretary for Ireland and Viceroy of India (1869–72).
Viscount Powerscourt is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of Ireland, each time for members of the Wingfield family. It was created first in 1618 for the Chief Governor of Ireland, Richard Wingfield. However, this creation became extinct on his death in 1634. It was created a second time in 1665 for Folliott Wingfield. He was the great-great-grandson of George Wingfield, uncle of the first Viscount of the 1618 creation. However, the 1665 creation also became extinct on the death of its first holder in 1717.
René Blum was a French Jewish theatrical impresario. He was the founder of the Ballet de l'Opéra at Monte Carlo and was the younger brother of the Socialist Prime Minister of France, Léon Blum. A Jew, he was interned in various camps from 1941 until he was murdered by the Nazis at the Auschwitz concentration camp in late September 1942. While at the camps, he was known for keeping up the spirits of his fellow prisoners with tales of his life in the arts.
Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, 1st Earl of Ossory also known as Red Piers, was from the Polestown branch of the Butler family of Ireland. In the succession crisis at the death of Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond he succeeded to the earldom as heir male, but lost the title in 1528 to Thomas Boleyn. He regained it after Boleyn's death in 1538.
"Prince Robert", also known as "Lord Abore and Mary Flynn", is Child ballad number 87, existing in several variants, and a murder ballad.
Gerard FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, was a leading figure in 16th-century Irish History. In 1513 he inherited the title of Earl of Kildare and position of Lord Deputy of Ireland from his father.
Powerscourt Estate, located in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland, is a large country estate which is noted for its house and landscaped gardens, today occupying 19 hectares. The house, originally a 13th-century castle, was extensively altered during the 18th century by German architect Richard Cassels, starting in 1731 and finishing in 1741. A fire in 1974 left the house lying as a shell until it was renovated in 1996.
Sir Arthur Gore, 1st Baronet was an Irish soldier and politician.
Francis Charles Needham, 3rd Earl of Kilmorey, styled Viscount Newry from 1851 to 1880, was an Anglo-Irish peer and Conservative Member of Parliament.
James Colville, 1st Lord Colville of Culross (1551–1629) was a Scottish soldier, courtier, and diplomat.
Maurice FitzThomas FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Kildare was a prominent Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland who held the office of Lord Justice of Ireland.
John Allen Fitzgerald Gregg CH (1873–1961) was a Church of Ireland clergyman, from 1915 Bishop of Ossory, Ferns and Leighlin, in 1920 translated to become Archbishop of Dublin, and finally from 1939 until 1959 Archbishop of Armagh. He was also a theologian and historian.
Richard Wingfield, 1st Viscount Powerscourt, PC was an English-born army officer and military administrator during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. He is notable for his defeat of Sir Cahir O'Doherty's forces at the 1608 Battle of Kilmacrennan during O'Doherty's Rebellion in Ireland.
Thomas FitzJames FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond, called 'Thomas of Drogheda', and also known as the Great Earl, was the son of James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond and Mary de Burgh. He was Lord Deputy of Ireland under the Lieutenancy of Duke of Clarence from 1463 to his death, and in 1464 founded the College of Youghal. His plan to found a University at Drogheda failed due to his judicial assassination.
Lubov Nikolayevna Yegorova was a Russian Empire ballerina who danced with the Imperial Ballet and the Ballets Russes.
Baron Skryne was the title of the holder of an Irish feudal barony: the title derived from the parish of Skryne, or Skreen, in County Meath. It was not recognised as a barony in the Peerage of Ireland, but was habitually used firstly by the de Feypo family and then by their descendants, the Marwards. The Barons of Skryne were not entitled as of right to sit in the Irish House of Lords, although it seems that in practice the holder of the title was often summoned to the Irish Parliament. The title fell into disuse in the seventeenth century, when the family estates were forfeited to the English Crown. Thomas Marward, having been the last Baron of Skryne, died in 1568 without male inheritors.
The House of Stratford is a British aristocratic family, originating in Stratford-on-Avon between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. The family has produced multiple titles, including Earl of Aldborough, Viscount Amiens, Baron Baltinglass, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe and the Dugdale Baronets. The Viscount Powerscourt and Baron Wrottesley both claim descent from this House. Historic seats have included Farmcote Manor and Stratford Park in Gloucester, Merevale Hall in Warwickshire, Baltinglass Castle, Belan and Aldborough House in Ireland, and Stratford House in London, amongst many others. The house was at its most powerful in the fourteenth, sixteenth, and eighteenth centuries.
