The battle for the final resting for King Richard III seems already won after it was revealed the decision is in the hands of university experts.
It was confirmed yesterday (Feb 7) it was up to the University of Leicester to decide where he should be buried as they had been granted permission to exhume the monarch’s body. The news came as York Minster rejected calls for the King to be laid to rest there.
Over 11,000 people have signed a petition calling for him to be re-interred in York and York Council has confirmed it is writing to the Queen and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to lay claim to the remains of the last Plantagenet king.
But yesterday the MoJ said an archaeological exhumation licence had been issued which required details of where the remains would be laid to rest.
It said: “The licence we issued states that the applicant (the University of Leicester) would, no later than August 31, 2014, deposit the remains at Jewry Wall Museum or have them interred at St Martin’s Cathedral or in a burial ground in which interments may legally take place.
“The precise location of reburial is now for the University of Leicester.”
In a statement York Minster said it believed Leicester was where the King should be buried: “The Chapter of York commends Richard to Leicester’s care.” Leicester’s Mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, said he could understand York’s challenge but he said plans were in the early stages for a re-interment ceremony at Leicester Cathedral.
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