Richard III body possibly discovered

At a dig in the grounds of a Leicester car park, it is likely they have found the remains of Richard III, once King of England. A set of bones have been discovered in the remains of a church and sent away for further DNA testing.

His resting place was known after the Battle of Bosworth, but the precise location had been lost. It will be an excellent feat of historical detective work, if they have found his remains.

The bones appear to match his description with near death trauma and spinal curvature. Will be interesting to see what the results are.

More Here

Man, I love this kind of stuff.

Thanks for posting it.

That is awesome!

Very cool. "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse...!"

Makes me want to see Ian McKellen's British Fascist take on Richard III again sometime.

And I want to re-read The Daughter of Time.

I wonder what they will do if it is confirm to be his remains. Will he get a more appropriate funeral than the one he was given?

Is there room to bury him near any of his relatives? Would there be any objection to that due to his sketchy reputation?

Al Pacino should be pleased.

By the way, who are the folks in armor standing around in the background of the Telegraph video? Are those actual agents of the British Government or cosplaying archaeologists?

Big, big update on this one.

It really is the body of Richard III. At last they can start putting to rest some of the rumours and stories about him.

According to the report he did have a curved spine, but didn't have a withered hand. Shakespeare was only partially inaccurate

More details here

Of course, now the biggest argument is going to be where he is laid to rest. Leicester, where he has been for the last 600 years or York Minister, where he came from.

Next stop, Alfred the Great and the Princes in the Tower.

Yeah, the evidence looks pretty good that it's him.

Looks like he took a pretty good whuppin' as he went down.

The plan is for him to be laid to rest in Leicester according to the interview I heard on NPR.
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/29/166139...ng-richard-iii

Here's CNN.com's coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/world/...tml?hpt=hp_bn2

Wonder if he'll get a state funeral, as mentioned in the NPR link, and if anyone from the current Royal Family will attend?

Hopefully it'll be a good Catholic ceremony.

I doubt he will get a full state funeral, although considering he hasn't had one, he is probably due.

It will need to be a catholic ceremony though.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/52e086fb1...zwko1_1280.jpg

Heh. Love it!

Can we bury live monarchs there?

Well, the monarch and her guards would surely object, but at least it's not against the Leicester City Code.

The archeologists now say the grave was almost disturbed - and the late king maybe even beheaded - when the ground was earlier disturbed: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3826816.html

Looks like Richard suffered from roundworms - would those hurt, or were they just disgusting?: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/richa...7779?gt1=43001

I gather mostly disgusting, but yech. Even a King was surrounded by people who didn't know enough to wash regularly, it seems. Those were not good times.

Mel Brooks knew what he was talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Things_Were_Rotten

Not a state funeral, but close. No word yet on any of the current Royal Family attending: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/reli...chard-III.html

An older article with an interesting graphic about the skeleton and indications of wounds: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...ars-death.html

The latest DNA evidence - it's definitely Richard III: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/s...a-parking-lot/

Yeah, it' good to see that it seems to be established beyond a reasonable doubt now.

Cool stuff.

He's to be reburied March 26; no word on a representative of the Royal Family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhuma...commemorations

The Queen won't be there; the Countess of Wessex (Prince Edward's wife) will represent her: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/eart...-approval.html

The reinterment ceremony is now over. British actor Benedict Cumberpatch - recently determined to be related to the king - read a poem: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/l...l-live-updates

Interesting article from an Anglican perspective; it also addresses the point that his first burial was not ideal, to say the least: http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/e...ter-530-years/

Was he not a Catholic?

Yes, but the Church of England is the official state church now. As noted earlier, the top Catholic cardinal for England presided over a separate service.

On a lighter note: A funny online survey - just how much like Richard III are you, anyway?: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/...ent#.pbnVRAk2v