Richard III descendants demand York burial

The monarch’s 500-year-old skeleton was identified earlier this month after it was uncovered during an archaeological dig at a council car park in Leicester.

The remains are due to be re-interred at Leicester Cathedral next year, in line with the licensing agreement that was issued to allow the exhumation, despite campaigns to bring them to York.

But today nine of Richard III’s descendants said they believed the king, the last monarch of the House of York, would have wanted to be buried in the northern city.

They said in a statement: “We, the under-named, do hereby most respectfully demand that the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England and our mutual ancestor, be returned to the city of York for formal, ceremonial reburial.

“We believe that such an interment was the desire of King Richard in life and we have written this statement so that his wishes may be fully recognised and upheld.

“King Richard III was the last King of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty which had ruled England since the succession of King Henry II in 1154.”

They continued: “We, the under-named blood descendants, unreservedly believe that King Richard is deserving of great recognition and respect and hereby agree to dutifully uphold his memory. With due humility and affection, we are and will remain his Majesty’s representatives and voice.”

Earlier this month, city leaders in York said they were to write to the Queen and the Ministry of Justice in a bid to get Richard III’s remains returned to his “spiritual home”.

King Richard grew up at Middleham Castle in the Yorkshire Dales and visited York several times during his 26-month reign.

The statement from the descendants was signed by Charles Brunner, Jacob Tyler and Eleanor and Charlotte Lupton, King Richard’s 17th great nephews and nieces; Stephen Nicolay, Paul Tyler and Vanessa and Linda Roe, the monarch’s 16th great nephews and nieces; and Raymond Roe, the 15th great nephew of the King.