RICHARD III:
Richard III burial: five centuries on, the last medieval king
finally gains honour in death
Thousands gather in Leicester for reburial of Richard III, the last Plantaganet
king, whose remains were discovered by archaeologists under a car park
By Tom Rowley, Leicester, 6:58AM GMT 23 Mar 2015
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/archaeology/11489187/Richard-III-burial-five-centurieson-the-last-medieval-king-finally-gains-honour-in-death.html
“King Richard III route,” declared signs across Leicestershire on Sunday. “Expect delays.”
• In pictures: ceremony and reenactment for Richard III
It hardly needed to be said. After all, it had taken 529 and a half years for the death of England’s last medieval
monarch to be formally marked.
Descendants place white roses on the coffin (AP)
As if to make up for those lost centuries, the first of five days of ceremonies that will culminate in his reburial
began with all the pageantry his 15th century funeral had lacked.
Once again, Richard III rode out to Bosworth Field. This time, though, he did not lose horse, crown and life, but
was honoured with a 21-gun salute.
In 1485, after becoming the last English king to fall in battle, his naked corpse was dragged across these fields,
slung over a horse then buried without ceremony.
Thousands lined the route of the procession (Getty)
On Sunday, his remains left the battlefield to applause before travelling back through the streets of Leicester on
a gun carriage. Thousands lined the route of the procession, which passed the council car park where the king’s
bones were discovered by a team of Leicester University archaeologists three years ago.
They threw Yorkist white roses in front of the carriage, which was followed by 200 children in school uniform,
holding aloft home-made banners honouring the king. One onlooker even let out a passionate cry of “God save
King Richard!” before a crown, similar to the one that tumbled from his head on his last day, was placed atop
his coffin.
The event began, fittingly enough, on the university campus. The academics who uncovered and identified his
remains each placed a single white rose on his coffin, carved from English oak by Michael Ibsen, a descendant
of Richard’s sister whose DNA was used to identify the body.
• Richard III: A hero maligned by Shakespeare
• Richard III: A common criminal
Richard Buckley, wearing the OBE awarded him for his role as the dig’s lead archaeologist, was chief mourner,
formally charged with transferring the body from the university to the cathedral, where the Archbishop of
Westminster preached a service last night.
Academics are
not normally
found at the
centre of such
pageantry. Yet,
as the
university’s
vicechancellor,
Prof Paul
Boyle, pointed
out, it has now
been the
custodian of
Richard’s body
for longer than
his two-year
reign.
Dr Buckley
admitted to
feeling a
“mixture of excitement and trepidation” at playing such a crucial role. Matthew Morris, the archaeologist who
unearthed the skeleton on the first morning of the dig, said he felt “uncomfortable” in his dark suit. “But I
couldn’t look shabby,” he said. “This is a very final end to a project, and unusually poignant. Normally you just
finish your report, archive the findings and that’s it.”
Crowds, up to eight deep in places, lined the 30-mile route from the city to Bosworth and back.
One caravan bore a hand-painted sign declaring “RIIIP”, but the mood was not of mourning or of celebration
but quiet commemoration. Most onlookers remained silent as the hearse passed.
The coffin is carried on a four-wheeled bier at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre (AFP/Getty)
At the battlefield, his coffin was led out by 14 historical re-enactors dressed as knights in armour beneath
hooded black cloaks. In front of a crowd of 2,000, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lit a beacon that will burn until
Thursday in honour of that other Richard, also a Duke of Gloucester.
At the heart of the field, two flags usually fly above a memorial to the dead, bearing the standards of Richard
and Henry Tudor, who defeated him in battle that day. On Sunday, only Richard’s standard was flown. There
was no place for the Tudors here.
Ricardians — as the king’s modern-day followers style themselves — had travelled from across the world to
attend the ceremony. The battle may have ended five centuries ago, but they continue to fight for the reputation
of a king portrayed by Shakespeare as a “monster” with a withered arm and who is thought to have killed his
nephews, the Princes in the Tower.
Kelly Fitzgerald, a 52-year-old civil servant, travelled from Texas to pay tribute to Richard as well as her
ancestor, Lord Greystoke, who also fought at Bosworth. “In 1485, the people who really wanted to mourn for
Richard were not allowed to,” she said. “I’m glad to see wrongs being righted.”
Shayne Parkes, a 54-year-old New Zealander, and her husband, Robin Fenwick, included the event in their
honeymoon. “We met at a funeral, so it is kind of fitting,” she said. “He seems an underdog and I feel sorry for
him.”
Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society, which has sought to rehabilitate the monarch, said he should be
remembered as “the good king”. He said: “Far from calling for a horse, he fought on to the very end.”
Philippa Langley, who led the quest to find the remains of King Richard III (Getty)
A similar doggedness marked out Philippa Langley, the mother-of-two from Edinburgh who has been studying
the king for 23 years and who first persuaded the university to stage the dig.
Dressed in a dark blue hat and coat, she, too, placed a rose on the coffin before bowing her head.
“This was about seeing Richard as a real historical figure, not as a caricature,” she said. “We gave him as much
of the 15th century as we could.”
In his defence: legacy of Richard III revisited as Queen pays tribute to maligned king
The reputation of Richard III was finally restored as the much-maligned monarch was given a tribute fit for a
king – and a seal of approval from the Queen, writes Sarah Knapton.
A 21 gun salute is fired near the coffin (Getty)
The king’s remains will lie in repose in Leicester Cathedral until a reinterment service on Thursday. Although
the Queen will not attend the service, Buckingham Palace said she has written a tribute in the order of service
which acknowledged Richard’s importance to British history.
In a service last night at Leicester Cathedral, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, said
Richard had been a progressive monarch, championing the rights of the people.
“In his two years as King, he reshaped vital aspects of the legal system, developing presumption of innocence
and the practice of granting bail,” said the Archbishop.
The revisionist version of Richard III is in sharp contrast to the figure described by William Shakespeare as a
“poisonous bunch-back’d toad” who murdered the Princes in the Tower.
Dr Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III society, disagreed.
“He was a man of integrity who cared for his subjects,” he said.