Readers doubted Audrey Strange’s theory that the remains of Richard III were located underneath a parking lot. She published an article in the Richard III Society’s newsletter, The Ricardian in 1975, that went against the popular belief that the controversial king had his bones thrown into the river.
I imagine the king that died in the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 was cheering. The idea got picked up momentum over the years backed by research.
Finally 2012, the search to find if Richard III was really buried in a church beneath a parking lot was executed.
It took “four years of fighting” for Philippa Langley to see her goal happen. She had gathered funds and finally persuaded the Leicester City Council to grant permission to tear up a parking lot. She rallied support from the Richard III Society and stayed in contact with those who felt they had enough proof that Richard III was buried in the former Greyfriars Friary Church located underneath a parking lot in Leicester. Understandably, there were skeptics.
Richard Buckley of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services doubted the skeleton of a king that lived in the 1400s would be found. Even though he would “eat his hat” if King Richard III was discovered, he stilled the join team to search for the king.
“There are people who have these great dreams of finding things. As an archaeologist, I know how many variables there are at play on an excavation. So the chances of finding Richard was a million to one,” Buckley said.
Before the dig was under way, Philippa checked out the neighborhood that the parking lot was meshed in. When she got to the parking lot itself, she noticed a parking space with a painted “R.” Besides the spot being saved for a living person, Philippa had an “intuition” that Richard’s body would be close to the reserved spot. She recalled, “I got the strangest sensation when I was in that area in that place. I absolutely knew that I was standing on Richard’s grave.”
The very first day of for excavation, a skeleton buried close to the “R” was discovered.
Only minutes after discovering the first skeleton, Philippa described a “paranormal” event. “The biggest darkest cloud came over and there was this incredible, tempest. The tempest arrives the minute we discover human remains. If it was Richard, he was ready to be found. He wanted to be found.”
The days went on with additional discoveries in other trenches. Yet Philippa was sure that the skeleton the team found on day one was Richard. On day 12, Philippa met geneticist, Dr. Jo Appleby and her assistant Dr. Turi King. As Philippa watched the two work in the trench near the “R,” she felt that intuition and was relieved his exhumation would be peaceful. She then realized that it would “be carried out by women. I wonder what he would have thought of that.”
And guess what? DNA tests that corresponded with descendants from his sister Anne of York proved that the skeleton was King Richard III. Now let’s go back to possible thoughts of the king. My theory: gratitude, shock, and awe. Maybe relieved that the men were also involved but still shocked that it had been women who had contributed greatly to his discovery.
Yet, he wouldn’t be altogether surprised.
Richard III’s queen, Anne Neville, showed she was also diligent and aggressive. Stay in tune to read how Anne Neville was the businesswoman version of Cinderella.
Oh! And p.s.! The doubtful Richard Buckley graciously ate a baked cake shaped like a hat.
Sources: Smithsonian’s Richard III documentary, The King’s Grave by Philippa Langley, Michael Jones
Featured image of Langley with the reconstructed face of Richard III fromhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Other images from:
http://nerdalicious.com.au/
http://www.richardiii.net/