Richard III Visitor Centre

Welcome to the Throne Room of King Richard of York, at the Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester. Unravelling the King’s death after discovering and identifying his body needed an army of researchers, historians, archaeologists and scientists. 

The King shares a secret with his armorer, who measures Richard III for a special suit of armor: Richard’s spine was twisted because he suffered from a condition called scoliosis. 

It was a secret that Richard’s enemies exploited, spreading rumours that he was a monstrously deformed King.

Taken from Scotland by Edward I of England in 1296, the Stone of Scone – traditionally used to crown Scottish Kings – was housed in Westminster Abbey for centuries. The Stone was used in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It was returned to Scotland in 1996.

King Richard III of England was crowned on July 6, 1483, but he had claimed the throne by ousting his young nephew Edward V. Why was this? Was Richard hungry for power or was he seeking to protect his beloved country from evil powers that would manipulate the boy?

On Oct. 2, 1452, the eve of the Wars of the Roses, the future King Richard III was born. For the following 3 decades England was locked in a continual and deadly struggle to determine who should be king, with Richard, his father, and 3 brothers at the forefront of the quarrel.

Power was everything to the Tudors and the Plantagenets. The influence of the throne seems to have mesmerized everyone in these families, even tempting them to betray one another.

During an earlier rebellion, Richard almost captured Henry after setting a trap for him. Henry had attempted to come ashore in England, and came across troops on a beach calling to him and proclaiming their loyalty. He remained unconvinced, however, and sailed back to France.

On August 22, 1485, the War Of The Roses saw the armies of Richard III and Henry Tudor clash near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. 

Richard commanded forces of 10,000, although many were common men with little military experience. Henry’s forces were roughly half that of Richard’s, but included 2,000 experienced French mercenaries.

In 1484 Richard passed 33 acts through parliament, bringing the nation into line with his own ideals. A fairer criminal justice system granted bail to defendants, prevented their goods from being seized before a conviction, and halted the practice of using biased juries to deliver pre-determined verdicts.

Corrupt officials were replaced and, instead of increasing taxation, unpaid dues were collected. These new regulations were well received but Richard still had powerful enemies.

Richard took young Edward V and his little brother Richard of York, imprisoning them in the Tower of London. They were never seen again. Did he kill them? We may never know.

Some contemporaries believed Richard to be a fair and good man and doubted that he had killed the boy princes. Acknowledging the rumour that the King had killed his nephews, the nobleman Nicolas von Poppelau remarked that he thought differently: “Many people say – and I agree with them – that they are still alive.”

Richard made numerous efforts to win over doubters to the new regime by granting them lands and titles. Nonetheless, he knew that many of them would turn on him at the first opportunity.

In April 1484, Richard’s situation worsened after his only legitimate son, Edward of Middleham, died suddenly after a short illness, followed shortly by Richard’s wife. Henry Tudor’s influence was also increasing having now secured backing from abroad, he now posed a worrying and imminent threat to Richard’s rule of England.

Henry Tudor spent half of his life exiled in Brittany, France. His claim to the English throne was weak, but after the disappearance of the two young princes he became one of the few surviving men with connections to Henry VI. 

Henry had strong family ties in Wales, and many encouraged him to set sail for the region as soon as possible. On August 7, 1485, Henry Tudor and his army made landfall in South Wales, and on August 22, 1485, the rivals met in bloody combat at the Battle of Bosworth Field. 

Richard saw an opportunity to strike at Henry when a path opened up between the two men. Leading his mounted knights in a charge, Richard smashed into Henry’s own personal guard, coming close enough to Henry himself to kill his standard-bearer William Brandon. 

Traitor William Stanley committed his men into the battle at last – but on the side of Henry Tudor, betraying Richard. Despite having lost his horse and being surrounded by enemies, Richard fought on until a spiked battleaxe (halberd) smashed into his skull, killing him.

Henry took Richard’s body to Leicester and displayed it publicly. He believed it vital to show that Richard was dead in order to avoid future imposters claiming to be the king. After 2 days, Richard’s mutilated body was taken down and buried without ceremony.

Legend tells us that Richard’s crown was found under a bush. On a hill overlooking the bloodied fields of Bosworth, Stanley placed the crown on Henry Tudor’s head, making him the new King of England.

While writing “Richard III”, William Shakespeare drew upon Tudor propaganda, portraying Richard as the villain who stole the throne and murdered his nephews. It is a view that has echoed through history.

Science undertaken by the team of archaeologists, geneticists, forensic artists and historians showed that Richard III was a spirited man. 

His enemy, King Henry Tudor, disposed of him unceremoniously and distorted his era until it became the reign of a monster – but many in York still call him Richard the Fair.

Shakespeare turned Richard’s scoliosis into a hunchback and depicted him with a withered arm and a limp, but imagine the distortion with a 1600s perspective Henry Tudor, grandfather to Elizabeth I, had taken the crown in combat because his claim to the throne was minimal.

Tudor kings had become all-powerful, so Shakespeare was wise to support their distortions of history.

Sir Ian McKellen’s 1995 portrayal of Richard as a fascist-style tyrant was set in an alternate version of 1930s England at the time of Edward VIII’s abdication, and used Shakespeare’s Richard III as its inspiration.

Richard Buckley, Director of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, saw the potential in Philippa’s idea. A team surveyed the area using ground-penetrating radar and, guided by plans of similar friaries, they dug 3 excavation trenches. On the first day, a human leg bone was unearthed in Trench 1.

A memorial has been built over the site where the body was discovered. Instead of a car park, there now stands a beautiful room with the excavation site clearly visible and the body’s shape marked out with light.

The grave was rough and sloping, and the uncovered skull was bent forward at an awkward angle, showing signs of trauma. This all indicated that the body had been hastily buried. Further evidence that the body was that of Richard III was in the obvious S-shaped bend in the skeleton’s spine.

The discovery of the body caused huge excitement at the dig. Matthew Morris, site supervisor, called to Richard Buckley: “You really need to come and look at the skeleton.” 

“Look, I really am a bit busy. I’ve got guests... I can’t talk now.”

“You really need to go and look at it now. The burial’s got curvature of the spine, and trauma to the head!”

The skeleton found in Trench 1 of the dig was confirmed to be an adult male of slender build with severe scoliosis, which is different to the forward-curving spine with which Shakespeare described Richard III as having. 

The entire body was scanned, with bones showing damage scanned again using high-resolution micro-CT to get a better view of the injuries. The bones showed that the individual had died between the age of 30 and 34 years.

Scans revealed 11 injuries, mostly to the face and head. Two severe wounds located at the base of the skull were fatal. This number of head injuries suggested that Richard’s helmet had been removed before his death.

Two women – Caroline Wilkinson, professor of craniofacial identification at the University of Dundee, and artist Janice Aitken – worked with the skull using reconstruction techniques to build up layers of tissue. 

DNA and reconstruction techniques have revealed this face. The man likely had blue eyes and blonde hair during his childhood, but this may have darkened with age. Further analysis also revealed the consumption of wine, meat, and other luxury foods: the diet of a king.

Two more wounds, one on the rib and the other on the pelvis, were most likely delivered after death, suggesting that the body had been stripped of his armour. 

DNA, carbon dating and isotopic analysis were carried out. DNA samples were extracted from the skeleton and geneticist Dr Turi King tested these against two living relatives of Richard (who had been located by John Ashdown-Hill and Kevin Schürer). 

According to accounts from the period, Richard III’s body had wounds inflicted as he was dragged through the streets of Leicester: he was likely stripped to show the S-shaped curve of his spine. The samples matched: it was Richard III. The team had solved one of the greatest historical mysteries of all time.