A King Has Been Found

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He's no George Clooney, but he's not Frankestein either.

 

I have to admit, since the story started to break late last week, I've been a little too preoccupied with the tale of Richard III.  At first I was skeptical to say the least.  How could a king's body have possibly been hidden for 500 years, and for a bit of that time 2 feet under a car park?  It was unthinkable to me.  But when word broke yesterday that it had been discovered that the remains were actually the past King of England's, I became a believer.

Not only is it astounding that they were able to make this discovery, though I still haven't figured out how they decided to dig up that particular car park,  it's unbelievable how they were able to reach the confirmation.  There are 2 long lost relatives of Anne of York still living in Canada.  The researchers somehow found these 2 people and were able to compare their DNA to that of the remains.  I've heard that one of the relatives wished not to be named.  I have to admit, I'm no royal lover but if it turned out that I was descended from royalty, I'd be shouting it from my palace in my tiara.

Then comes the really interesting part, due in part to the King's injuries he sustained, they were able to decipher how he spent his last few hours.  Unfortunately, these hours weren't pleasant, as he was brutally beaten over the head and his body desecrated by soldiers that wanted to prove the "evil" king was dead.  Terrible, yes, but it turns out that Richard III may have gotten a bad rap due in part to good old Shakespeare.  In the history play The Tragedy of Richard III, he was portrayed as a monster with a disfigured hand and a hunchback.  But aside from some scoliosis which would have hunched him a bit, he's not that monsterish looking in the reconstructions.  There's also a whole society in Britain, that is working for further research into the King in hopes of changing his reputation.

Not really being a follower of British royalty (no more than what I learn at the Renaissance Festival each year), I have to say that the only thing I knew about Richard, I learned from Shakespeare and how he was portrayed in stagings of the work.  And as a bit of a fan of good old Will, this play was never on my favorites list.  But now, I find the man fascinating.  I've been reading each and every article I've found on this story this week.  He may have been as evil as his subjects once thought, but it's comforting to know that he still has a bit of a following and people that still care about him and his memory. 

It's also pretty darn awesome what some science  and a lot of digging can accomplish!