I want the last northern king to come home

[kalypso_v]

I've found myself oddly unsettled by the confirmation that the bones found at the Greyfriars site in Leicester almost certainly are those of Richard, even though that was what I expected. It should be good news, but it isn't, because the authorities seem determined to rebury him in Leicester - indeed, they now make out that this was an essential

Comments

[steepholm]

I'm not sanguine, but I have signed.

[kalypso_v]

Thank you very much!

[kalypso_v]

Thank you!

[kalypso_v]

That is nice. I think one of the problems is that the leading officers of the Richard III Society, to which I belong, and which is the organisation I'd have expected to lead the campaign for York, have been quite closely involved with the archaeologists who found the body, and I suspect are quite happy to stick with Leicester; the website just states that he's going to be reinterred there, without reference to any other opinions. Yorkshire Branch may see things differently, however.

[sheenaghpugh]

Yeah, I think he should go back north (and have signed).

[kalypso_v]

Thanks very much.

[temeres]

Not signing. He was a king, and a king who wanted to be king and therefore a complete bastard. Stick him back under a car park and viva la revolucion.

Bet there's no petition to give John Ball a place in the Abbey.

[kalypso_v]

If you start one up, I'll cheerfully sign it.

[glitterboy1]

I hadn't heard that of that condition before, either. I can't even really understand why Leicester would want him.

I've been thinking of you, with the news of him, and wondering what you would make of it. I'm glad I happened to be on an all-too-rare visit to LJ to see this. I've been and signed!

[kalypso_v]

Leicester Cathedral has clearly made a feature of the fact that Richard's body was known to lie nearby; they've apparently had a memorial to him in the cathedral since 1980. It was round about then that a statue of Richard was erected in a local park, though that was commissioned and paid for by the Richard III Society, so all that it signifies about the council was that they were friendly enough to grant permission. However, I'm sure that both cities have an interest in attracting Ricardian tourists.