A mystery, five centuries old, was solved with smooth ease in 2012. The life and legacy of King Richard III, handed down through uncomplimentary historical sources (including William Shakespeare), painted a vivid portrait of a deformed and ruthless monarch… but the whereabouts of his burial spot remained illusive, lost to time. That is, until a team of dedicated archaeologists, historians and scientists took a gamble and dug up a parking lot in Leicester, England. They were quite surprised at the significance of what they uncovered. Produced in 2013 for the Smithsonian Channel, Secrets: Richard III Revealed follows much of the excavation and lab work surrounding the now-undisputed discovery of King Richard III's long-lost remains. Richard III was just 32 years old, serving only two years on the throne, when he was killed in battle by his Tudor enemies in 1485. History records that his body was entombed in a nearby monastery, but by the 21st Century that building had been town down ages prior. The Tudors and playwright William Shakespeare made pointed efforts to besmirch the reputation of the dead King, casting him as an evil tyrant and a hideous hunchback with a withered limb. By the 2000's, the Richard III Society, led by Philippa Langley, had made a mission of restoring honor to the legacy of the 15th Century English ruler. Historian John Ashdown-Hill pointed the way to the site of the monastery where Richard III was thought to be buried, but by 2012 the area was a parking lot. Led by University of Leicester archaeologists Richard Buckley and Mathew Morris, the dig proved an immediate success when the team found a skeleton with a major curvature of the spine (scoliosis) and battle wounds on the very first day. Subsequent areas of search produced more results, but the first hit was precisely on target. Dr. Jo Appleby and Dr. Turi King excavated the bones and conducted thorough lab work, including CT Scans, carbon dating and extracting DNA. The deformed skeleton showed 10 injuries in all, including separate wounds inflicted by a sword, a dagger and a halberd. All signs pointed to confirmation that the bones were those of Richard III. Indeed, all doubt was lifted when a mitochondrial DNA test showed a perfect match with Michael Ibsen, a descendant of the monarch. The discovery made headline news and thrust the researchers into a brief media blitz. Although the discovery didn't shed much light on the soiled reputation of Richard III, the efforts efficiently solved a 500-year-old mystery in seamless fashion.
Richard III
Jo Appleby
Dr. Jo Appleby and Dr. Turi King
Philippa Langley
bones of King Richard III
Richard Buckley
Jo Appleby and Mathew Morris
bones of King Richard III
Richard Buckley
Richard III
Jo Appleby
Richard Buckley
bones of King Richard III
Philippa Langley and the Richard III head reconstruction
