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Archbishop of Canterbury to lead reinterment of Richard III

Posted on: March 24, 2015 10:28 AM
Photo Credit: Lambeth Palace
Related Categories: Abp Welby, England, Leicester

From Lambeth Palace

The Archbishop of Canterbury will lead the reinterment of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral on Thursday.

Archbishop Justin Welby will officiate at the reburial ceremony on Thursday morning, which will be conducted in the presence of Royal Family members; the Bishop of Leicester, the Most Revd Tim Stevens, and other senior clergy; descendants of Richard III; and civic leaders, among others.

Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England, died aged 32 in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth.

His skeleton was found in 2012, in an old friary beneath a car park.

The mortal remains were received at the Cathedral on Sunday night during a service of Compline, having been carried from the University of Leicester by the team who discovered them. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, preached at the service.

In the medieval rite of reburial, before reinternment the person’s remains were placed in the church while its usual pattern of worship continued.

This same pattern is being followed in the Cathedral this week, where the remains will be in repose until Thursday when the Archbishop will lead a reinterment service based on Morning Prayer.

For more information, visit the King Richard in Leicester website