Kings and stuff.

In 1485 King Richard III lost the Battle of Bosworth Field and incidentally his life. In 2012 they found his remains when they were excavating ground prior to building a car park in Leicester. Much excitement ensued. First they had to establish that it actually was Richard. Descendants of the family were found and DNA evidence was obtained. Then they had a big argument as to whether he should be buried in Leicester or in York, both cities declaring they had the right to his remains. 

Leicester won. Today they are reburying him with great ceremony. Or perhaps today is just a pre-re-burial rigmarole. I hear they are burying him properly on Thursday. Today his remains are being touted around the city with great ceremony. Crowds are expected to turn out and watch. Are there really so many royalists? So many followers of the House of York? Do they really want to make good the "harm" done by the Tudors? Have they all been watching too much "Wolf Hall" on television. 

Whatever the case, stuff is going on in Leicester, the Bishop of Leicester will preside over the goings-on and presumably he will lay Richard to rest and all will be well. Apparently! On the radio news a reporter was going on about restoring dignity to Richard. Now I know he was supposed to have been bundled off the battlefield and put in an small and unmarked grave. Not much of an end for a king but, after all, that was the 15th century and there was a lot of rough stuff going on. And old Richard was no angel. I have to confess to finding the whole thing a little tedious. Bury him properly by all means but don't go on too much about the need to atone for things that were done to him long ago! 

Of course, most of this is really good for boosting tourism to Leicester. No doubt you can now go on Richard III / Battle of Bosworth Field tours. However, I do get a little tired of hearing about the need to atone for the past. Apologising for events that took place long ago has been rather overdone, in my opinion. Of course, we should not forget about slavery, the holocaust and the like but some of the apology ceremonies ring a little hollow. 

Still, they have a nice day for their parades and processions and dignity-restoring. And besides, if all this historical violence had not happened, whatever would Shakespeare have based his history plays on. And according to some, George R. Martin would perhaps not have written Game of Thrones. And then where would we be?