Kiwis crow over connection to The Lost King’s new legacy
Rob Smith of the Richard III Society’s NZ branch tells Kelly Dennett he’s thrilled the unusual story of the uncovering of the king’s remains has been told.
Ten years ago when British writer Philippa Langley orchestrated the digging up of a car park in Leicester in the hopes of finding the remains of a king who had been dead for 538 years, a contingent of Kiwis were cheering her on from the other side of the world.
Now, as the film immortalising the unusual but ultimately successful hunt for the remains of Richard III broadcasts in theatres, members of the New Zealand branch of the Richard III Society say they are thrilled to have played a part in the recovery of the king’s remains.
But most importantly, says its secretary treasurer Rob Smith, the dig and the subsequent telling of the dig, has promoted the work of the society, which is committed to presenting a more nuanced picture of Richard III’s life – who’s been widely pinned as an evil man.
Supporters believe Shakespeare’s tales about Richard III, who was England’s King between 1483 until his death in 1485, foisted a one-sided story of him on the world, and Richard III societies globally are committed to researching and promoting his life story. In Australasia, society members number around 150.
The short version of the following story is that in 2005 experts managed to identify King Richard’s mitochondrial DNA sequence from descendants. By then writer and producer Philippa Langley was already embroiled in the king’s story, after trying to write a movie about him.
She subsequently launched the first ever search for the king’s remains. They knew he’d died in battle in 1485 but nobody knew what happened to his body, with one theory positing it was discarded in a river. Another was that he’d been buried in a garden at Leicester’s Greyfriars monastery.
After identifying a carpark where that garden once stood, Langely felt – correctly it turned out – that she had the right spot.
After fundraising £34,000
($65,000 NZD) for a two-week dig in 2012, much of it contributed to by Richard III societies around the world, including New Zealand, archaeologists quickly found the remains in the very spot Langley envisioned. In 2015 members of the Richard III society, including Rob Smith, joined Langley and others for the reburial of Richard III at Leicester cathedral.
‘‘She has done more with the film and her book and her interviews to bring home the society’s message about Richard than the society has managed to do in 99 years.’’ Rob Smith
‘‘For a long, long time we were looked across as a bunch of cranks,’’ says 83-year-old Smith. ‘‘The society reckons she has done more with the film and her book and her interviews to bring home the society’s message about Richard than the society has managed to do in 99 years... she did all the hard work.’’
Time has erased how much local members contributed to the dig – perhaps a few hundred dollars, Smith guesses – but he is proud of their connection to Langley, whom he’d emailed recently simply to congratulate on her work, as she becomes immortalised on screen in The Lost King, which landed in cinemas on Boxing Day.
Smith joined the society 32 years ago and although membership ‘‘skyrocketed’’ after Langley’s mission, Smith worries for its future. He was thrilled, then, that The Lost King will reinvigorate interest.
Directed by Stephen Frears and starring Steve Coogan and Christine Langan, Stuff’s reviewer Graeme Tuckett called the story behind The Lost King as ‘‘definitively incredible’’.
Says Smith: ‘‘In recent weeks it’s been reviewed most favourably. People that have seen the film will come away thinking, ‘that’s what it was all about...it all makes sense to me now’.’’