Remembering Richard

I pay my respects to Richard III by his bronze statue

A chill was in the air over the streets of Leicester Wednesday morning as crowds gathered for their last chance to pay their respects to a king in repose before Richard III is reinterred on Thursday.

Leicester Cathedral's doors opened two hours earlier than originally scheduled to accommodate the courteous public who gathered at 4AM on the last day of the coffin's display. Since Monday, 20,000 people have seen the oak coffin and I joined them at 7.15AM in six degree (43F) weather. Early-morning Leicester was under a shroud of grey cloud, a contrast to the glorious sunny Sunday which the procession of Richard III basked in.

The crowd gather at Leicester Cathedral (photo: Adam Hodges)

The line that snaked through the Leicester Cathedral gardens was steadily moving as volunteers supplied cups of tea to the pilgrims who carried white roses. The symbolic York White Rose has brought profit to local florists who have been snipping stems with as much voracity as the blades that clashed on Bosworth Battlefield.

Single white roses were dotted throughout Cathedral Gardens and they congregated around the Richard III statue which was moved from Leicester Castle Gardens in 2014. A security guard watched closely over the bronze statue to ensure that Lancastrian supporters didn't create mischief with red roses placed below the likeliness of the last Yorkist King. Almost 530 years since the Wars of the Roses officially ended and the fight rages on.

Richard lies in repose (photo: Adam Hodges)

The glow of six solemn candles guarded the coffin adorned with a commissioned funeral pall, crown and medieval bible. The line of observers, armed with cameras, smartphones and tablets, were ushered around the font and took a moment to savour the dignified return of the king found underneath a council car park.   

I tie a ribbon of pray outside Leicester Cathedral

The pilgrims were asked to tie a ribbon around the railings of the Cathedral Gardens and I obliged by tying a regal purple ribbon around the black iron railing. 

Across Peacock Lane from the Cathedral is the Richard III Visitor Centre that celebrates Richard III's 'dynasty, death and discovery'. The £4.5 million Visitor Centre combines visual, audio and ethereal qualities that will leave even the harshest critics of Richard III feeling a pang of sympathy towards him. 

Entrance to Richard III Visitor Centre (photo: Adam Hodges)

The tour begins with a video projected behind a throne that depicts Richard's family discussing the early life of the Duke of Gloucester. If you haven't got your ticket in time for the video's beginning, you can enjoy the works of Graham Turner in a temporary exhibit and I took home a small print of one of Turner's majestic works available at the gift shop.

Richard, his Queen and Prince (photo: Adam Hodges)

The tour continues with exhibits that detail Richard III's ascendancy to the throne, the power he wielded once upon it and his unsuccessful defence of the crown. An interactive display allows you to play a 1483-style Cluedo to solve, for yourself, the mystery of the Princes in the Tower that Richard III was, until recently, the prime suspect. A stained glass depiction of King Richard, his Queen and Prince looking over the scales of law makes you contemplate what might have been if Richard had defeated Henry Tudor in 1485.

Bosworth Battlefield Mural (photo by Adam Hodges) 

The Battle of Bosworth is depicted in a fascinating mural with silhouettes of Richard adorning his coronet before the opposing forces collide. The distant past is brought into modern focus upstairs as displays show a roll call of actors who have brought to life Shakespeare's twisted and biased view of Richard III on stage, cinema and television.

But there are always more than one side to a story, no matter how gripping the Bard's tale of greed maybe, and the members of the Richard III Society have been looking for the real Richard III since the 1920s. Phillipa Langley, Scottish President of the Richard III Society, was inspired to discover Richard from David Baldwin's and John Ashdown-Hill's hypotheses of Richard's burial on the former site of Greyfriars church.

The search and subsequent discovery of Richard III's skeleton are exhibited with videos, documents and intimate relics from 2012. These include the digger bucket and mattock that broke ground above the grave, Langley's Union Jack Wellington boots worn on the day of discovery and Ashdown-Hill's flag of Richard's royal standard that adorned the box of bones carried away from the excavation.

Archaeologists Matthew Morris and Richard Buckley (photo: Adam Hodges)

The archaeologists behind the dig, Matthew Morris and Richard Buckley, were at the Richard III Visitor Centre Wednesday to sign copies of the book, 'Richard III the King Under the Car Park' and I congratulated them on the work done at the Visitor Centre. 

The penultimate exhibit of the tour details the marvels of modern science with Richard's death wounds, DNA identification and reconstructed face displayed.

Richard III's discovery is brought to life (photo: Adam Hodges)

The tale of a king found underneath a car park is a fascinating one and it is recreated breathtakingly at the conclusion of the tour. A glass floor allows you to walk over the excavated trench. A chill went down my spine when I saw the hologram of the skeleton, slumped in a hastily dug grave, fade in and out of view, accompanied by a solemn choir reminiscent of the Grey Friars who gave Richard his first burial.

Haste has given way to thoughtful planning for Richard III's reburial taking place on Thursday. Richard may have been buried for over 500 years but his life and legacy hasn't been forgotten. And neither will I forget the day I visited his grave site and revered coffin.