London – Thousands of people gathered inside and outside Leicester Cathedral on Thursday in London for the reburial of Richard III, the last English king to die in a battle.
Sherlock Holmes actor Benedict Cumberbatch, a distant relative of Richard, read the specially commissioned poem “Richard” by Carol Ann Duffy, Britain’s Poet Laureate.
Queen Elizabeth said in her message for the service that the re-interment of King Richard III was an event of great national and international significance.
“Today we recognise a king who lived through turbulent times and whose Christian faith sustained him in life and death.
“The discovery of his remains in Leicester has been described as one of the most significant archaeological finds in this country’s history,” Elizabeth added.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, led prayers as the king’s remains were lowered into a new tomb in the cathedral.
Pallbearers carried Ricahrd’s coffin into the cathedral covered with dozens of white roses symbolising his House of York.
Richard died at the Battle of Bosworth near Leicester in 1485 while fighting the Lancastrian forces of Henry Tudor, who later became Henry VII, ending England’s War of the Roses.
His reburial at the cathedral follows the discovery of his remains under a car park at the East Midlands city of Leicester in 2012.
Scientists who analysed his bones found eight serious head wounds that indicated a brutal death by blows from swords or other weapons.(Vanguard)
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Reburial of legend,warrior, and hero after 530 years of death.