<P> Shortly after the death of Edward IV in 1483, the notorious murder of the Princes in the Tower is traditionally believed to have taken place . The incident is one of the most infamous events associated with the Tower of London . Edward V's uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester was declared Lord Protector while the prince was too young to rule . Traditional accounts have held that the 12 - year - old Edward was confined to the Tower of London along with his younger brother Richard . The Duke of Gloucester was proclaimed King Richard III in July . The princes were last seen in public in June 1483; it has traditionally been thought that the most likely reason for their disappearance is that they were murdered late in the summer of 1483 . Bones thought to belong to them were discovered in 1674 when the 12th - century forebuilding at the entrance to the White Tower was demolished; however, the reputed level at which the bones were found (10 ft or 3 m) would put the bones at a depth similar to that of the recently discovered Roman graveyard found 12 ft (4 m) underneath the Minories a few hundred yards to the north . Opposition to Richard escalated until he was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 by the Lancastrian Henry Tudor, who ascended to the throne as Henry VII . </P> <P> The beginning of the Tudor period marked the start of the decline of the Tower of London's use as a royal residence . As 16th - century chronicler Raphael Holinshed said the Tower became used more as "an armouries and house of munition, and thereunto a place for the safekeeping of offenders than a palace roiall for a king or queen to sojourne in". The Yeoman Warders have been the Royal Bodyguard since at least 1509 . During the reign of Henry VIII, the Tower was assessed as needing considerable work on its defences . In 1532, Thomas Cromwell spent £ 3,593 on repairs and imported nearly 3,000 tons of Caen stone for the work . Even so, this was not sufficient to bring the castle up to the standard of contemporary military fortifications which were designed to withstand powerful artillery . Although the defences were repaired, the palace buildings were left in a state of neglect after Henry's death . Their condition was so poor that they were virtually uninhabitable . From 1547 onwards, the Tower of London was only used as a royal residence when its political and historic symbolism was considered useful, for instance each of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I briefly stayed at the Tower before their coronations . </P> <P> In the 16th century, the Tower acquired an enduring reputation as a grim, forbidding prison . This had not always been the case . As a royal castle, it was used by the monarch to imprison people for various reasons, however these were usually high - status individuals for short periods rather than common citizenry as there were plenty of prisons elsewhere for such people . Contrary to the popular image of the Tower, prisoners were able to make their life easier by purchasing amenities such as better food or tapestries through the Lieutenant of the Tower . As holding prisoners was originally an incidental role of the Tower--as would have been the case for any castle--there was no purpose - built accommodation for prisoners until 1687 when a brick shed, a "Prison for Soldiers", was built to the north - west of the White Tower . The Tower's reputation for torture and imprisonment derives largely from 16th - century religious propagandists and 19th - century romanticists . Although much of the Tower's reputation is exaggerated, the 16th and 17th centuries marked the castle's zenith as a prison, with many religious and political undesirables locked away . The Privy Council had to sanction the use of torture, so it was not often used; between 1540 and 1640, the peak of imprisonment at the Tower, there were 48 recorded cases of the use of torture . The three most common forms used were the infamous rack, the Scavenger's daughter, and manacles . The rack was introduced to England in 1447 by the Duke of Exeter, the Constable of the Tower; consequentially it was also known as the Duke of Exeter's daughter . One of those tortured at the Tower was Guy Fawkes, who was brought there on 6 November 1605; after torture he signed a full confession to the Gunpowder Plot . </P> <P> Among those held and executed at the Tower was Anne Boleyn . Although the Yeoman Warders were once the Royal Bodyguard, by the 16th and 17th centuries their main duty had become to look after the prisoners . The Tower was often a safer place than other prisons in London such as the Fleet, where disease was rife . High - status prisoners could live in conditions comparable to those they might expect outside; one such example was that while Walter Raleigh was held in the Tower his rooms were altered to accommodate his family, including his son who was born there in 1605 . Executions were usually carried out on Tower Hill rather than in the Tower of London itself, and 112 people were executed on the hill over 400 years . Before the 20th century, there had been seven executions within the castle on Tower Green; as was the case with Lady Jane Grey, this was reserved for prisoners for whom public execution was considered dangerous . After Lady Jane Grey's execution on 12 February 1554, Queen Mary I imprisoned her sister Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth I, in the Tower under suspicion of causing rebellion as Sir Thomas Wyatt had led a revolt against Mary in Elizabeth's name . </P>

Who has lived at the tower of london