IT WILL surely be one of the most unusual yet significant royal funerals in our country’s long history.
More than 500 years after he was cut down on Bosworth field, Richard III — the last of the Plantagenet kings — will finally be laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral this week.
His coffin will be taken past the scene of his death before being laid at the cathedral for five days of public viewing, ahead of its reinterment on Thursday.
The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, who will preside over the ceremony, said the reburial would provide a unique opportu- nity for the country to reflect on its sometimes violent and turbulent past.
“It’s an opportunity to remind people of the extraordinary moment in English history the death of Richard III marks,” said Bishop Stevens. “It was a change of dynasty, an end of a period of violent civil war, the beginning of the period in which Shakespeare was to write his great tragedies, including Richard III, and a different way of governing the country.
“That’s an important point for all of us, whether we happen to be Christian observers or not.”
This week’s events may go some way to compensating for the indignities of Richard’s first burial. His body was discovered beneath a municipal car park in Leicester, long after most archaeologists had given up any hope of finding his remains — and only then because of the tireless campaign by Philippa Langley, secretary of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society, for a dig to be conducted at the site.
More ignominious still, close examination of his tomb — found when the ruins of an old monastery were unearthed in August 2012 — revealed that his original burial had been a hasty affair.
Contemporary accounts, written shortly after the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485, told how the king’s remains were buried like a pau- 1RICHARD
III’s remains leave Leicester University, archaeologists from which found them under a car park. DNA from his skeletal remains (far right) was used to make a reconstruction of the king’s face (right) per’s, “without pompe or solemne funeral” at Greyfriars Monastery. Indeed, archaeologists found that his grave had been dug too short and that Richard’s head had to be propped up against its side.
The king had suffered eight wounds to the head during the battle against the Lancastrian forces of Henry Tudor, with one blow to the base of the skull having cleaved away much of the bone. Another blow had been driven four inches through his skull.
Richard’s body was laid on show to the public for three days, to prove beyond doubt that he had been killed, before being buried in a manner and place that would attract as little attention as possi- ble. His defeat had put an end to the War of the Roses and Henry Tudor, now Henry VII, was anxious to leave Leicester and consolidate his new status as king.
Today, however, will see the start of a more fitting final journey for one of England’s most notorious monarchs.
Richard’s skeletal remains will be placed in a lead-lined oak coffin at the University of Leicester this morning, giving the public their first opportunity to view it, before being taken to the city’s cathedral along a 20-mile route past some of the most significant locations of his final days.
These will include Fenn Lane Farm, the closest place to where he died, where a brief ceremony will be led by the Rev Hilary Surridge. Here soil from three significant locations in Richard’s life, including Fenn Lane, will be mixed together for burial with him later.
The cortège will also pause at the “battlefield church” at the village of Sutton Cheney, before stopping at Bosworth itself, where Bishop Stevens will lead a ceremony at the battle heritage centre.
Richard’s coffin will then travel through the towns and villages of Market Bosworth, Newbold Verdon and Desford, before being welcomed at Leicester’s medieval boundary by the city’s Lord Mayor and Gild of Freemen.
After passing through the city on a horse-drawn hearse the coffin will arrive at the cathedral — past a new statue of Richard, sword in hand — for the medieval Service of Compline, marking the end of the working day, at which Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, will preach the sermon.
The coffin, covered with a specially commissioned pall telling his story, will lie in the cathedral for five days, allowing the public an opportunity to pay their respects.
On Thursday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will lead the service of reinternment, accompanied by representatives from other Christian denominations and the major world faiths.