Two days after unveiling a reconstruction of the face of Richard III, Leicester experts have now recreated how Greyfriars, his final resting place, might have looked. Built in 1230, Greyfriars was one of the first Franciscan friaries to be established in England, just 6 years after the order came  to Britain, but it was completely […]

More than 500 years after his death, members of the public can look King Richard III in the eye once more, following the unveiling of a reconstruction of how he may have looked. Based on human remains found beneath a carpark in Leicester city centre by University of Leicester Archaeological Services, and recently identified as […]

The human remains found beneath a city centre carpark last August are ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ those of Richard III.

Is this the skull of Richard III? Today (4 February)  the University of Leicester, with Channel 4, unveiled the world’s first photograph of the human remains found beneath a car park in Leicester city centre, interred in what was once the Grey Friars church. Later this morning archaeologists will announce the results of months of […]

On 12th September the University of Leicester held an extraordinary press conference. They announced that a three week dig seeking the remains of Richard III had ‘entered a new phase’ with DNA testing under way on an adult male skeleton. So what had they discovered? Richard Buckley, Jo Appleby, and Helen Foxhall Forbes told Matthew […]

If it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune that ULAS’ trial trenches came down on the very features that were needed to lead archaeologists to Greyfriars’ church – according to historical documents, the burial place of Richard III – the story of how the structure’s remains managed to survive 500 years while the site […]

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!   Such were Richard the III’s last words according to Shakespeare – recorded in Act V scene iv of  The Life and Death of Richard the Third, a play that largely contributed to the infamous image of the monarch after his death. Now the recent discovery […]

Update: for an account of how DNA analysis confirmed the identity of Richard III, see our short article by Dr Turi King, who led this aspect of the research.   The recently-discovered skeletal remains thought to be a ‘prime candidate’ for Richard III are to undergo DNA analysis in order to confirm their identity. This […]

University of Leicester archaeologists today (12 September) announced the discovery of an adult male skeleton suffering from scoliosis, which they believe may be the remains of Richard III. What is scoliosis? Scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine, where the spine curves either to the left or to the right of the body. […]

University of Leicester archaeologists today (12 September) announced that they may have found the remains of Richard III beneath the choir (also spelt quire) of Greyfriars Church, a Franciscan friary recently rediscovered under Leicester City carpark.   According to historical documents, Richard III was stripped and brought to this location following his defeat in the […]