What an evening!  I am sure that many of our readers followed the press conference in Leicester as spell-bound as I did.  It was a moment we had all been waiting and hoping for which finally came true.

The press conference revealed in a step by step account that the human remains found in Leicester in 2012 are “beyond reasonable doubt” those of King Richard III.

Richard Buckley, the lead archaeologist of the Greyfriars Dig, explained how they found the human remains right at the start of their dig and how the further trenches helped to confirm where in the Greyfriars site the remains had been found.  He also explained that the grave had been dug in a hurry and had actually been too short for Richard.  While his lower body, which apparently had been laid out first, was straight, his upper body was more twisted, as they had tried to fit him into the grave.

The most confronting report was that by Jo Appleby, the osteoarchaeologist of the University of Leicester, who had analysed the skeletal remains.  Her description of the injuries which led to Richard’s death as well as those inflicted as humiliation brought the horrors of a medieval battle into our living rooms.

Dr Appleby also remarked that the king would have had had an unusually slender, almost feminine, figure.   She explained the scoliosis and what it would have meant for him, but stressed that the “withered arm” from the Shakespeare play was not based on fact.

The most anticipated evidence was probably the DNA analysis, presented by Kevin Schürer and Turi King. An analysis of male descendents of Edward III, who was also an ancestor of Richard III, has not been concluded yet.  However, the mitochondrial DNA of Michael ibsen, a descendent of Richard’s sister Anne in an all-female line, was matched to that of another descendent, also in the all female line, and then to that of the human remains.

When Richard Buckley concluded that based on all the evidence it was “beyond reasonable doubt” that these were the remains of Richard III, it was not only the audience in Leicester who started clapping and cheering.  What a truly amazing day for all of us!

The thanks of the NSW Branch of the Richard III Society go to John Ashdown-Hill, Philippa Langley, the team of the University of Leicester and all others that made this wonderful discovery possible.

You can find out more in the Press Release of the University of Leicester and on the brand new website of the Richard III Society.  Now pictures of the facial reconstruction have been published as well and it is certainly a special moment to look into the face of the real Richard.

Tags: Leicester, Leicester Greyfriars Dig, Richard III, Richard III Society