My exams are over, and I'm back in front of my computer - just in time for a very special reinterment!
I started watching Emma Approved sometime during my exams, and I have been obsessed with it ever since. I'll write about it later, but now is not the time to talk about an excellent web series. Today is all about, and only about, a certain King Richard.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, or just too busy watching the cricket World Cup to notice anything that doesn't have to do with bats and balls, King Richard III was reburied today. Or will be, anyway. At the time that I'm writing this, it's still very early in the morning, which means that it must be slightly after midnight in Leicester. But I will keep this window open all day, and whenever I have a thought that is related to the reburial, I will write it down. And then I'll post it. This is what I do for fun.
To quickly summarise: King Richard III was the youngest son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and the younger brother of the Yorkist King Edward IV. Edward seized the throne from Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses, and ruled for over 20 years, albeit with some hiccups along the way. When Edward died, his son, Prince Edward, was only 12 years old and became the new King. But Richard wasn't having any of that. He booted the young King Edward off the throne by claiming that his father's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was a sham (and therefore Edward and all his siblings were illegitimate), and locked the boy in the Tower of London with his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. Then the older Richard had himself crowned King.
But the people weren't happy that Richard wasn't following the order of succession (apart from the two boys, he had also bypassed Edward, Earl of Warwick, the son of his older brother George), and the situation got worse when the two Princes in Tower suddenly disappeared. No one knows what happened to them - maybe Richard killed them; maybe Henry VII killed them when he came to the throne; maybe they just caught some common disease and died; maybe they escaped and fled to France - but they were missing and it was all Richard's fault.
In 1485, Henry Tudor, a direct descendant of King Edward III and a Lancastrian heir to the throne, returned to England after years of exile in Brittany and claimed the throne for himself. He challenged Richard to battle, they fought at Bosworth, Richard was thrown off his horse and bludgeoned to death, Henry Tudor won and he was King. Richard was buried in a priory which was destroyed under the rule of Henry VIII, but then his body was discovered under a car park in Leicester three years ago. The rest is history (Well, all of this is history, but the rest is recent enough history that you should have read about it in the papers).
Richard III was a good King. He was a good military commander, he made fair laws, his economic policies were quite good, and, mostly importantly, he was not a twelve year-old mama's boy. He had real world experience, and had lived through most of the Wars, and made a much better ruler than Edward ever would have. It's a pity he had to have his head bashed on the battlefield.
You can read the column here, and if you can identify all the errors, you win. There's no prize - you just have the satisfaction of winning.
11:30: I have mixed feelings about Benedict Cumberbatch giving a reading at Richard's reburial. On one hand, I'm glad that they've got a prominent actor who understands the gravitas of the situation (Cumberbatch will be playing Richard III in the upcoming series of the BBC's The Hollow Crown, and is also distantly related to the King... what!?) and not just some random person, but on the other hand, does Benedict Cumberbatch really know Richard or does he just know him as Shakespeare's hunchbacked, villainous, nephew-murderer? I can't be sure.
11:45: I have to write a piece for Royal Central about the descendants of the Battle of Bosworth meeting at Leicester for the first time since their ancestors met there 530 years ago. I don't feel like writing it though. I'm getting very jittery about this whole reburial thing.
12:45: Done. Here.
14:00: I've been texting my mother fun facts about Richard III all morning. I don't think she's reading them, but that hasn't stopped me in the past.
15:30: I've decided to take up another article about King Richard. I don't have anything to do until the service starts, and I'm determined not to write about anyone other than Richard because, like I said before, today is his day.
17:00: Finished. Here.
17:30: I spent the last half an hour thinking about whether Richard would have ever, in his life, imagined that this would be his future - a miserable defeat and burial, and then such a splendid ceremony 500 years later. The answer is 'Of course not. Why would he possibly think that?'
On a side note, I have no idea what time this service is supposed to start at.
17:45: It's already started. It's almost over, too. The Countess of Wessex is here, along with The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. There are two 'Richard, Duke of Gloucester's in this Cathedral - one sitting on the side as a guest of honour, and one in a hole in the ground.
18:00: Benedict Cumberbatch is looking very dapper. The white rose pin in his lapel is actually for sale online, and if I find the link you can go to it by clicking on this sentence. I actually wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive after shipping, and I would never have had an occasion to wear it anyway.
This is so great. I wish they would dig up a few more Monarchs and rebury them, just so that we can have ceremonies.
18:15: If they reburied Henry V, would they call Tom Hiddleston to give a reading? I wonder.
I do wish they had invited Aneurin Barnard to this. He's Welsh, so he's probably descended from one Tudor or another, and he's played Richard III on television. A more accurate depiction of Richard, not Shakespeare's evil version.
18:30: Fun fact - The Archbishop of Canterbury sprinkled the coffin with soils from Fotheringhay, Middleham, and Bosworth. Richard was born in Fotheringhay Castle in 1452, Middleham Castle (a possession of the Earl of Warwick before his death) is where is lived after her married Anne Neville, and where his son Edward was born, and Bosworth, of course, is where he died. So soils from every phase of his life.
19:00: I've finished looking at all the pictures, and reading all the tweets, and watching all the guests leave. I guess this is it, then. He's finally buried.
Rest In Peace, Richard.
You'll always be my favourite Plantagenet King.
19:45: Another one! "A search for bones of Henry I is planned in Reading"
Oh, this is going to be fun.
N
For those of you who have been living under a rock, or just too busy watching the cricket World Cup to notice anything that doesn't have to do with bats and balls, King Richard III was reburied today. Or will be, anyway. At the time that I'm writing this, it's still very early in the morning, which means that it must be slightly after midnight in Leicester. But I will keep this window open all day, and whenever I have a thought that is related to the reburial, I will write it down. And then I'll post it. This is what I do for fun.
~
To quickly summarise: King Richard III was the youngest son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, and the younger brother of the Yorkist King Edward IV. Edward seized the throne from Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses, and ruled for over 20 years, albeit with some hiccups along the way. When Edward died, his son, Prince Edward, was only 12 years old and became the new King. But Richard wasn't having any of that. He booted the young King Edward off the throne by claiming that his father's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was a sham (and therefore Edward and all his siblings were illegitimate), and locked the boy in the Tower of London with his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York. Then the older Richard had himself crowned King.
But the people weren't happy that Richard wasn't following the order of succession (apart from the two boys, he had also bypassed Edward, Earl of Warwick, the son of his older brother George), and the situation got worse when the two Princes in Tower suddenly disappeared. No one knows what happened to them - maybe Richard killed them; maybe Henry VII killed them when he came to the throne; maybe they just caught some common disease and died; maybe they escaped and fled to France - but they were missing and it was all Richard's fault.
In 1485, Henry Tudor, a direct descendant of King Edward III and a Lancastrian heir to the throne, returned to England after years of exile in Brittany and claimed the throne for himself. He challenged Richard to battle, they fought at Bosworth, Richard was thrown off his horse and bludgeoned to death, Henry Tudor won and he was King. Richard was buried in a priory which was destroyed under the rule of Henry VIII, but then his body was discovered under a car park in Leicester three years ago. The rest is history (Well, all of this is history, but the rest is recent enough history that you should have read about it in the papers).
Richard III was a good King. He was a good military commander, he made fair laws, his economic policies were quite good, and, mostly importantly, he was not a twelve year-old mama's boy. He had real world experience, and had lived through most of the Wars, and made a much better ruler than Edward ever would have. It's a pity he had to have his head bashed on the battlefield.
~
Note: I follow Indian Standard Time, which is UTC+5:30, or five and a half hours ahead of GMT.
10:30: My father pointed out a column about the 'Car Park King'. I read it, and then I read it again, this time with a pen, which I used to circle all the factual errors. There are lots. I understand that British history may not be the columnist's strength, and I forgive her for that, but is it really acceptable to be making such basic, factual errors when it is SO easy to just Google things like dates and titles.
11:30: I have mixed feelings about Benedict Cumberbatch giving a reading at Richard's reburial. On one hand, I'm glad that they've got a prominent actor who understands the gravitas of the situation (Cumberbatch will be playing Richard III in the upcoming series of the BBC's The Hollow Crown, and is also distantly related to the King... what!?) and not just some random person, but on the other hand, does Benedict Cumberbatch really know Richard or does he just know him as Shakespeare's hunchbacked, villainous, nephew-murderer? I can't be sure.
11:45: I have to write a piece for Royal Central about the descendants of the Battle of Bosworth meeting at Leicester for the first time since their ancestors met there 530 years ago. I don't feel like writing it though. I'm getting very jittery about this whole reburial thing.
12:45: Done. Here.
14:00: I've been texting my mother fun facts about Richard III all morning. I don't think she's reading them, but that hasn't stopped me in the past.
15:30: I've decided to take up another article about King Richard. I don't have anything to do until the service starts, and I'm determined not to write about anyone other than Richard because, like I said before, today is his day.
17:00: Finished. Here.
17:30: I spent the last half an hour thinking about whether Richard would have ever, in his life, imagined that this would be his future - a miserable defeat and burial, and then such a splendid ceremony 500 years later. The answer is 'Of course not. Why would he possibly think that?'
On a side note, I have no idea what time this service is supposed to start at.
17:45: It's already started. It's almost over, too. The Countess of Wessex is here, along with The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. There are two 'Richard, Duke of Gloucester's in this Cathedral - one sitting on the side as a guest of honour, and one in a hole in the ground.
18:00: Benedict Cumberbatch is looking very dapper. The white rose pin in his lapel is actually for sale online, and if I find the link you can go to it by clicking on this sentence. I actually wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive after shipping, and I would never have had an occasion to wear it anyway.
This is so great. I wish they would dig up a few more Monarchs and rebury them, just so that we can have ceremonies.
18:15: If they reburied Henry V, would they call Tom Hiddleston to give a reading? I wonder.
I do wish they had invited Aneurin Barnard to this. He's Welsh, so he's probably descended from one Tudor or another, and he's played Richard III on television. A more accurate depiction of Richard, not Shakespeare's evil version.
18:30: Fun fact - The Archbishop of Canterbury sprinkled the coffin with soils from Fotheringhay, Middleham, and Bosworth. Richard was born in Fotheringhay Castle in 1452, Middleham Castle (a possession of the Earl of Warwick before his death) is where is lived after her married Anne Neville, and where his son Edward was born, and Bosworth, of course, is where he died. So soils from every phase of his life.
19:00: I've finished looking at all the pictures, and reading all the tweets, and watching all the guests leave. I guess this is it, then. He's finally buried.
Rest In Peace, Richard.
You'll always be my favourite Plantagenet King.
19:45: Another one! "A search for bones of Henry I is planned in Reading"
Oh, this is going to be fun.
N
