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Richard III laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral

The remains of King Richard III have been laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral, the culmination of a remarkable series of events that began when his body was discovered in 2012 after being lost for hundreds of years.

Credit - Will Johnston / Leicester Cathedral

The reinterment service was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Among the guests on hand were Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and Philipa Langley, who led the search for the English monarch’s remains.

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During the service, The Rt Rev Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, said that “People have come in their thousands from around the world to this place of honour, not to judge or condemn but to stand humble and reverent … Today we come to give this King, and these mortal remains the dignity and honour denied to them in death.”

Credit - Will Johnston / Leicester Cathedral

Credit - Will Johnston / Leicester Cathedral

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who recently learned that he is also a descendant of Richard III’s family, reading a poem written by Britain’s Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy:

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My bones, scripted in light, upon cold soil,
a human braille. My skull, scarred by a crown,
emptied of history. Describe my soul
as incense, votive, vanishing; you own
the same. Grant me the carving of my name.

These relics, bless. Imagine you re-tie
a broken string and on it thread a cross,
the symbol severed from me when I died.
The end of time – an unknown, unfelt loss –
unless the Resurrection of the Dead …

or I once dreamed of this, your future breath
in prayer for me, lost long, forever found;
or sensed you from the backstage of my death,
as kings glimpse shadows on a battleground.

Credit - Will Johnston / Leicester Cathedral

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