Today we have really exciting news for all our readers!

After being killed in the Battle of Bosworth by the invading forces of Henry Tudor, the body of King Richard III was brought back to Leicester and eventually buried at the church of the Greyfriars, a Franciscan Friary.  Over time the exact location of the friary was lost, but archaeologists think it might be under what is now a carpark.

After long planning, tomorrow, 25 August 2012, a dig is to start at the site to try and establish the exact location of the former Greyfriars church and to find any remains of those, who were buried in the church.

The dig is carried out in cooperation by the University of Leicester and Leicester City Council in association with the Richard III Society.  It is the first ever search for the lost grave of an anointed King of England.

The work of John Ashdown-Hill has established a descendant in the all-female line of Richard’s mother, Cecily of York, in Canada, whose DNA could be used to establish whether any remains are indeed those of the lost – but not forgotten – king.

For more information, as well as a call on Channel 4 to commission a programme on this historic dig, go to the What’s New page of our parent Society.  Please do support the campaign for the programme!

The official page on the project by the University of Leicester can be found here.

You can read a press release by Richard Buckley of the University of Leicester here.

The search for Richard’s DNA is explained in:  John Ashdown-Hill, The Last Days of Richard III.  The History Press, Stroud, 2010.  ISBN 978 0 7524 5404 7 – also available for Kindle

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