Richard III Windows Delayed

In the past two weeks I have written 15,000 words of my first book, which is now titled 'The Falcon and the Fetterlock', after the Yorkist emblem. During that time I also wrote several articles for the Leicester Mercury newspaper including this story about the Richard III windows to be put inside Leicester Cathedral. The following article was published in the Leicester Mercury newspaper on Tuesday 21 April 2015:

Visitors to Richard III's tomb will have to wait longer to see the king's life depicted on stained glass windows at Leicester Cathedral.

The King Richard III Memorial Windows were originally planned to be finished in October but the window designer, Thomas Denny, said that was "optimistic".

"It's going to take many months to make and install the windows. It's more likely they'll be completed around this time next year," said Mr Denny.

At a cost of £75,000, Leicester Cathedral is hopeful the windows will be completed around the first anniversary of Richard III's reinterment, which falls on next year's Easter weekend.

Pete Dobson, Canon Missioner at Leicester Cathedral said: "It would be great if we had the windows ready for the one-year anniversary of the reinterment.

"We are really looking forward to having the completed windows."

People look over an open grave in the bottom right window

Mr Denny will make the windows using medieval methods and materials.

The finished windows will be placed in the cathedral's St Katherine's Chapel, behind the king's tomb.

More than 50,000 people, including tourists from around the world, have visited the tomb since last month's reinternment.

Richard III's tomb in front of St Katherine's Chapel in Leicester Cathedral

Mr Denny has designed windows for numerous churches, including Durham Cathedral, and the artist described Richard III's story as "universal".

"It's a story of loss and grief, courage and trusting in God, rather than being tidied away to history, as it were -King Richard's story can be something time-startingly now," said Mr Denny.

Armies clash in the left window

The windows have been partly funded by the Richard III Foundation, which described the designs as a "lasting memorial" which draws the viewer into a quiet and absorbing reflection of the king's life.

Joe Ann Ricca, founder and CEO-President of the Richard III Foundation, said: "We had the opportunity to donate to the telling of the life and times of King Richard III and this will serve as an eternal testament to his life for generations to come." 

A Fitting Tribute

Photo:Adam Hodges

April showers didn't deter visitors from queuing outside Leicester Cathedral today in order to pay their respects to Richard III's tomb. 

I joined the queue inside the nave but it soon stretched outside the door and around the front of the Cathedral in a crowd containing children out of school on their Easter holidays.

Cathedral visitors are welcomed with a quote from Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy

Visitors entering the cathedral were quickly reminded of last week's reinternment service with a quote from Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's 'Richard' poem. It was at the reinternment service where Oscar nominee, and distant relative to Richard III, Benedict Cumberbatch, evocatively delivered Richard to the congregation.

Rays of sunlight shone through the Cathedral's stained glass windows on to today's congregation who gathered in the ambulatory to see the tomb. I was allowed to place my hand upon the Swaledale fossil-stone tomb but an usher prevented a couple from taking a 'selfie' beside Richard III's final resting place. The modest North Yorkshire stone is cut with a Christian cross and rests upon a dark Kilkenny-marble plinth etched with Richard III's name, life dates, White Boar emblem, royal coat of arms and motto. 

The deep-cut cross on Richard III's tomb (Photo: Adam Hodges)

The last time I had visited the Cathedral was to see Richard III's coffin a day before the reinterment service  and it was then adorned with a funeral pall, crown and Holy Bible. The funeral pall and crown are now on display in the Cathedral for visitors to examine the embroidery of artist Jacquie Binns depicting events in Richard III's lifetime and his discovery.

Richard III's funeral pall on display (Photo: Adam Hodges)

The crown was commissioned by historian John Ashdown-Hill and placed on the coffin by nine-year old brownie, Emma Chamberlain, during the Service of Repose on March 26 2015. A day which saw thousands, including myself, line the streets of Leicester to see Richard III return to the city.

Spotlights underneath the glass display-case in Leicester Cathedral made the rubies, emeralds, sapphires and plated-gold sparkle on the coronet which resembled the one Richard III adorned on Bosworth Battlefield almost 530 years ago.

The queue to view the tomb stretches outside the cathedral (Photo: Adam Hodges)

Richard III's reburial in late-March brought the world's spotlight on Leicester. The crowd outside the Cathedral and items in the Cathedral giftshop, such as a teddy of a Greyfriar who originally buried Richard III, indicate that many more from around the world will visit the king and his final resting place.

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.