Thursday, March 14, 2013

Modest memorial planned for Richard III in Leicester Cathedral

Back in October I asked how Richard III should be remembered. My answer:
As a graduate of both York and Leicester Universities I have some claim to objectivity here, and I agree that Richard (if it is Richard) should be reburied in Leicester Cathedral. 
But a state funeral? So far the dig has been handled with good taste - there have been no pictures of the skeleton issued, for instance - but this idea is danger of taking things over the top. 
Richard would have had a funeral when he was buried at Greyfriars. A dignified short service and interment at the Cathedral is all that is required. Let's not turn the thing into a circus.
In that spirit, I am pleased by today's news that Richard will not have a chest tomb but a flat stone tablet - rather like the memorial to him that has been in Leicester Cathedral since 1982.

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