flanneruk

Human remains found in a Leicester car park in autumn 2012 were claimed by geneticists today, on the basis of DNA evidence, to be those of Richard III, killed in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth.

They will now be given a proper funeral and buried in consecrated ground. The ground will probably be Leicester Cathedral: it is unclear whether the funeral will be that he would have expected (a Catholic Requiem Mass) or the rather sparser and more elegant Anglican service now conducted over the remains of British royals.

But it's likely to be another Royal spectacular to boost the tourist numbers

Dukey1

Please, Flanner, use the proper terms...<B>Roman</B> Catholic rather than just "Catholic" as you of all people should understand.

flanneruk

The proper term is Catholic.

PatrickLondon

Dick the doodah is still somewhat controversial, so I don't expect more than local interest in the service in question.

Perhaps they could get Millet's to sponsor it - "Now is the winter of our discount tent".

I don't imagine they'd be playing Rolf Harris's "Two Little Boys" as part of the service, though.

hetismij2

Brilliant Patrick!

flanneruk

Among other comment on the blogosphere:

- Someone should have told him it's not safe to loiter around badly lit car parks in Leicester. Another victim of street robbery gone wrong maybe ?
- On the day a (now ex-) politician pleads guilty to lying about drunk driving "the cockney slang for a "Richard the Third" is exactly the same as an ex politician who admits to being a liar."
- "A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! You'll not get one here mate - try the car park
- Did they find his pay and display ticket?
- A hearse, a hearse, my Kingdom for a hearse
- Bit harsh,for forgetting to buy a parking ticket.
- Of course, of course, a place to park one's horse

And on they go...

The whole country seems to be auditioning to be scriptwriter for Have I Got News for You?

hetismij2

Thankyou for those Flanner. Gave me a good giggle anyway.

Viajero2

I just read about this and it blew me away!

I had to chuckled at the fact that direct line DNA proof came from a Canadian cabinetmaker.

Nikki

Please just keep talking. Eventually I will stop laughing and start understanding.

Tulips

Quickly go and see Mark Rylance as Richard III at the Apollo if you can still get a ticket. Closes on February 10. Wonderful performance.

ziggypop

Ah yes the English, any reason for a party!

PatrickLondon

More internet comment:

"The Queen will be served with a parking ticket for the last 528 years"

Someone has already started a Twitter account for him, which has already attracted a spammer:

"Have you been injured or killed as a result of your occupation? Call our claims hotline."

And someone is claiming ATOS have ruled him fit for work (local joke there: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...commons-debate)

trurodoc

I hope he's buried in Leicester Cathedral or in York, which appreciated him.

hetismij2

From a Lancastrian:

If they pay for the new burial out of UK Taxes all us Lancastrians should get a tax rebate.

We've already given him the burial he deserved once.

Nonconformist

"it is unclear whether the funeral will be that he would have expected (a Catholic Requiem Mass) or the rather sparser and more elegant Anglican service now conducted over the remains of British royals."


Though of course, what he would have been expected would have been not only Latin but pre-Tridentine.

PatrickLondon

Just watching the full TV documentary. My, they're making heavy weather of it. But I note that it's the car park for Leicester Social Services: I suppose it would be too much to hope for it to be the Child Protection Unit.

flanneruk

"Though of course, what he would have been expected would have been not only Latin but pre-Tridentine."

There's precedent for this. Medieval bodies found in excavations are routinely re-buried with Catholic rites, though in private. The funeral of the Mary Rose crew (sank 1545, reburied 1984) had to be public, and they died when the English Church no longer acknowledged Rome, but hadn't evolved its own rites.

So they used the Sarum Mass books to a setting by John Taverner (d 1545, just after the Mary Rose sailors), but had the service (in 1545 still possibly called "Mass") conducted in Portsmouth Anglican cathedral (Portsmouth is one of the few English cities which hosts both an Anglican and a Catholic diocese) by an Anglican - on account of you could argue the sailors were Anglican.

The parallel in this case is complicated. Most monarchs since 1500 have had their funeral in Westminster Abbey , and (with the exception of Elizabeth 1) by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Obviously, only Henry VII and Mary I had a proper Requiem.

I think the right thing would be for the current Archbishop of Canterbury to lead a funeral based on a late 15th century Mass book, in the Abbey or York Minster, for the committal ceremony ("In paradisium..." to be conducted by the (preferably elevated to Cardinal) Archbishop of Westminster, and the body to be interred permanently in Leicester Cathedral.

As King, Richard would have expected his funeral to be in a major ceremonial church, and conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as much as he'd have expected a Requiem Mass. He very well might have been more concerned with being treated like other monarchs (which these days means as a Prod) than with declaring allegiance to Rome.

Then, of course, he probably didn't expect to be under a car park for 500 years.

stokebailey

.. and in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 't were in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by.

or:

A son of Plantagenet sleeps in Asphalt's bosom.

stokebailey

I vote spare Anglican, but would still rather spend my tourist bucks on Mark Rylance.

PatrickLondon

Jury's still out on the fate of his nephews, though.