According to reports by the Richard III Society, Philippa began her search in 2009 and continued over a 3-year period with the aid and support of the Leicester City Council, the Leicester Archeological Services, the University of Leicester, the Richard III Society under the leadership of Mr. Phil Stone, and Ricardians worldwide. The search began with a 1741 map of Leicester, followed by a ground penetrating radar survey and carbon dating of the site, which confirmed that the Greyfriars site, as described in the area of the parking lot by Philippa Langley, was indeed the choir of the Abby considered to be the holy area of the altar.
The excavation in the parking lot site was undertaken August 25, 2012, the anniversary of Richard’s burial, and human remains were soon discovered. The entire skeleton was uncovered and revealed, among other anomalies, that it had severe spinal curvature or Scoliosis. This condition would have made his right shoulder slightly higher than the left shoulder and likely gave rise to the character of Richard III as the hunchback king portrayed by Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Confirmation that the bones were indeed those of Richard III, was provided by historian Dr. John Ashdown-Hill who traced an all-female line of direct descent from Richard's sister, Anne of York, to Joy Ibsen, a lady currently living in Canada, and her son Michael. Samples of their mitochondrial DNA that he sequenced, matched the DNA found in the remains of Richard III. On February 4, 2013, Richard Buckley, the leading archeologist at the University of Leicester, was able to announce with certainty that the remains in the grave at the Greyfriars site were those of Richard III, the last Plantagenet King. On Feb 5, 2013, the Richard III Society unveiled the facial reconstruction of Richard III found at the Greyfriars in Leicester and announced that “he had a warm face, young, earnest and rather serious.”
Richard III was eventually coffined in a chapel at the University on Sunday, March 15, 2015, and on Monday, March 23,2015, Richard’s body reposed in Leicester Cathedral where thousands viewed his coffin White roses blanketed the city and adorned the statue of King Richard opposite the cathedral. On February 26, 2015, Richard was reburied in city's cathedral with solemnity and honor befitting a king. The service was one of great dignity and beauty, presided over by both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Leicester.
Under Henry VII, and his son, Henry VIII, the following account is the fate of those who shared Plantagenet blood:
Princess Elizabeth, Edward IV’s daughter - married Henry VII
Edward of Warwick, Clarence’s son - executed
Margaret of Warwick, Clarence’s daughter - executed
John of Gloucester, Richard’s illegitimate son - executed
John de la Pole, Richard’s nephew and heir - killed in the Battle of Stoke, 1487
Edmund de la Pole, Richard’s nephew - executed
Edward and Richard, the Princes in the Tower - remains found near the White Tower stairs in 1674
In Addition:
John Howard, Duke of Norfolk; Robert Brackenbury, Constable of the Tower; and John Kendall, Richard’s Secretary; Sir Robert Percy and Sir William Catsby, died fighting for Richard at Bosworth Field.
Francis Lovell escaped and took part in the battle of Stoke, 1487, in which he opposed Henry VII. In 1708, a skeleton was found seated at a table in a secret room of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. Upon exposure, the skeleton, believed to be Francis Lovell, crumbled to dust.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paula Simonds Zabka was married August 22 knowing this was the day in 1485 that changed English history on the field of Bosworth in Leiscester, England. She was a student of English history and Literature, having taught in these fields after graduating from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. As an avid adventurer, she traveled the world with her husband and daughter. But her first love was England.
Living in London for a year while her husband was earning a post doctoral Degree of the Imperial College, gave the author the opportunity to do research on the Yorkist Age in which she had a special interest. In this era, she developed a passion and fascination for the life of the last Plantagenet Queen, Anne of Warwick, and her intriguing role as wife to Richard III and daughter to Warwick, the Kingmaker, during a tumultuous time in English history.
Despite three spinal surgeries, the author overcame physical disabilities to tell the story of Anne in her struggle for survival, and to present another side of Richard III than that portrayed by Shakespeare. She visited every castle, cathedral and battlefield described in her novel absorbing the sense of history that still lingered among the fallen stones and grassy meadows.
The first half of the novel is a revision of a previous version published in England. The second half of her manuscript was never published, and so the story was considered incomplete in the eyes of her husband, George, and her daughter, Alisa. They were determined that her manuscript be presented as a complete novel, and edited her story of Richard III and Anne of Warwick to be published, in Paula’s memory, as Desire the Kingdom. This revised e-book has been titled Anne of Warwick, The Last Plantagenet Queen, to reflect the focus of the story, Anne Neville, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker.
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