Body of evidence for Richard’s burial in York

WITH reference to Coun 
Andrew Carter’s letter 
(Yorkshire Post, February 20), it does look very much as if the authorities at Leicester have “pulled a fast one” regarding Richard III’s reburial in Leicester Cathedral.

It appears that the exhumation order for the archaeological 
dig specified reburial of any remains found “at St Martins cathedral or in a burial 
ground in which interments 
may legally take place” – so it 
did not have to be in Leicester.

At that time, the remains had not been formally identified as those of King Richard, or indeed of any individual, but now that they have it surely alters the situation.

The growing outcry against 
the Leicester reburial is proof 
 that most people – even those with no connection to 
Yorkshire – believe that an anointed monarch deserves a more appropriate resting-
place than the fourth smallest cathedral in the country, 
and in a city which, unlike York, has no positive associations with the king.

The proposal to put King Richard’s bones on display in Leicester while awaiting reburial is an apt illustration of the tasteless behaviour the civic authorities evidently consider acceptable, and bodes ill for the future.

A case of civic tourism at any price?