More On Richard III

The current issue (February 8, 2013--available in digital version only) of Newsweek has several articles on the identification of Richard III's bones and the meaning of the find. Simon Schama weighs in with a discussion of whether the simple discovery of the king's skeleton means anything at all about his character or legacy. Harold Booth discusses Shakespeare's version of Richard, and how it necessarily differs from reality. Dan Jones explains some of the science involved in identifying the bones and linking them to Richard's living relatives. And the impact of the discovery? One controversy has popped up: where to rebury the last Plantagenet king of England. Apparently the present Queen has nixed the idea of interring him in Westminster Abbey with other English monarchs. Should he be reburied where he has laid for centuries? That's presently a parking lot. Should he, nevertheless, stay in Leicester, the city where he died? Or be moved to York, where he spent much of his short life (he died at 33)? What are the burial rights of a king who had no direct heirs, died in battle, and lost his kingdom? After all, the victors tend to write history.

More speculation here on Richard's actual face and voice, reproduced via a commission by the Richard III Society.