Last Battle for Richard III

Richard III, the last of the Plantagents to rule England, is now the subject of a court battle.  The king's remains were found beneath a car park in Leicester last year and confirmed as his bones earlier in 2013 after detailed analysis.  The government then said he would be buried in Leicester but now some of his distant relatives have won permission for a judicial review into the decision.  They want him buried in York.

 

 

Richard III, King of England, is now the subject of a legal argument

 

The Plantagenet Alliance says the king would have wanted to be buried in York.  His remains ended up in Leicester after being taken there by the victorious Tudor troops after the Battle of Bosworth which took place nearby.

 

 



King Richard's field at the Bosworth site

(photo Bill Sibley)

 

The judge who allowed the review suggested a panel of independent experts make the final choice of where to bury the king.  Justice Charles Haddon-Cave said the Ministry of Justice should have allowed a consultation before deciding to lay the monarch to rest in Leicester but warned everyone involved against turning this into another War of the Roses.

 

 

Richard and a horse - Shakespeare's famous words have him offer his kingdom for one as he faces death at Bosworth

 

Wherever the king ends up is likely to draw a massive tourist trade and the actual burial itself will be a major event attracting visitors from around the world.  But the prestige of being the last resting place of one of the best known, and most infamous, of English kings will bring its own kudos with it.  The battle has begun