So the bones are Richard III any one else interested

[goodiegoodieyumyum]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882

After many months DNA proves the skeleton found in a Leicester car park are Richard the third, much questions about where he should be buried, if they choose to given him a funeral then it will have to be catholic, it would be ridiculous to bury him in an Anglican church as he was a Catholic and the church of England didn't even exist when he was alive.

[MuddlingMackem]

Just been reading about it in the Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/feb/04/richard-iii-skeleton-last-plantagenet-king-live

Really interesting. Just put the BBC news channel on on the off-chance something will be on about it.

[nipersvest]

i think it's really exciting! dd has just finished doing the tudors at school and last term they went on a trip to bosworth battlefield, which i went on too as a parent helper, they will have been waiting with baited breath this morning for the results of the dna tests.

[BMW6]

I am engrossed by this news and will watch the programme on Channel 4 tonight. For some reason I feel really sad for him - I hope he gets a full state funeral in Westminster Abbey.

[throckenholt]

The curve in his spine is fascinating. Amazing that he could be as physically strong and active as he was with that !

I think the religious discussion is daft. There was not other religion then. Why can't they have a non-religious internment ceremony ?

[OscarPistoriusBitontheside]

There was only one type of Christianity really, that was catholic (small c) so a religious ceremony is correct, but we could argue should it be Catholic or Anglican?

[PhilMcAverty]

I'm interested too. I've been reading a book recently that outlines what happened to royal children through the ages, including Richard III.

Interesting question about whether to give him an Anglican funeral or a Catholic one when he was catholic, but the current monarchy are CoE and are also Defender of the Faith.

I doubt we're going to get an extra day off for it though .

[Clawdy]

There's a thread on Chat about it too.

[MoreBeta]

What I dont understand is how they got the idea that it was Richard III and worth testing when the skeleton was dug up in the first place?

There are thousands of skeletons in the ground so why did they decide this was 'the one' to test?

[throckenholt]

Right location. And then seeing the deformity - good chance it was him - not many would have had that and those kind of wounds too.

[TunipTheVegedude]

Because it was on the site of the church where he was believed to have been buried, in the choir (where the most important bodies would be) and there were antiquarian accounts that said his body was there.

[MoreBeta]

Ah right, I see.

I just read Wiki and it says there were good contemporaneous historical accounts and that it was known fairly precisely where he was buried so it was not quite as speculative as I thought.