In English Cathedral, Final Rest Nears for King Richard III

From The New York Times-

 For an English monarchy that has lasted more than 1,000 years, there could be few stranger occasions than the ceremony scheduled here on Thursday for the reburial of perhaps the most bloodstained and violent of its medieval sovereigns, King Richard III, who was slain in battle seven years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World.

Richard’s skeletal remains, in a coffin of blond English oak inscribed with the sparest details of his life — “Richard III, 1452-1485” — were to be the occasion’s centerpiece. Removed from beneath a black cloth pall stitched with colorful images from Richard’s life, the coffin was to be laid to rest in a brick-lined tomb close to the altar of Leicester’s Anglican cathedral.

The remains of King Richard III, lost for more than 500 years, are carried in procession on Sunday for a later reburial at Leicester Cathedral.Richard III, Previous Visit a Bust, Is Warmly Received 530 Years LaterMARCH 22, 2015

With the tomb topped by a black marble plinth, the former king will rest barely a stone’s throw from the ignominious grave where frightened Franciscan friars disposed hastily of his corpse after his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field outside Leicester on Aug. 22, 1485.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/world/europe/king-richard-iii-burial-leicester.html?_r=0