The mortal remains of Richard III have returned to Bosworth where he fell in battle 530 years ago.
In a colourful ceremony heavy with symbolism atop Ambion Hill over-looking the site of the old Leicestershire battlefield thousands gathered to honour the dead king, some in period dress and battle armour.
Supporter Dr Phil Stone, chairman of the Richard III Society, told the crowd to “remember a man of integrity, who cared for subjects and had their trust”.
He urged them to look anew at the king whose “achievements in his short reign have been over-shadowed by historical myth and Shakespeare’s monster”.
Dr Stone added: “Let us remember King Richard III. The good king. The warrior king.”
After a moment of silence and reflection, a 21-gun salute thundered out bringing the smell of gunpowder to the windless field, as a banner bearing the old king’s white boar sigil hung limply from its flagstaff.
The weather obliged, as bright spring sunshine shone down in echo of the words of Shakespeare’s play Richard III, “now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York”.
Earlier in the day, Dr Stone said reports the Queen has prepared a personal tribute to be read out at Thursday’s service of reinterment at Leicester Cathedral were to be welcomed.
As the last boom of the guns died away, the Duke of Gloucester, patron of the Richard III Society, lit the flame of an iron brazier.
The congregation listened as the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, said in prayer: “Grant King Richard a world of rest and peace, free from dust and ashes.”
He added: “We thank you now as we honour the memory of King Richard, the last Plantagenet king, as we entrust his mortal remains to you as they journey to their final resting place in the cathedral church of Leicester.”
Later, white roses were placed by the dignitaries around the sundial memorial which crowns Ambion Hill.
As Richard’s remains were again carried away into the Leicestershire countryside by the cortege, his passing was witnessed by the passengers in the coaches of a steam train, as its engine sat puffing smoke, idling on the tracks.
Earlier many thousands had packed the narrow country lanes of Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, the village where Richard is said to have prayed before the fight which claimed his life, while there were similar scenes in nearby Market Bosworth.
In Sutton Cheney, Shaun Dixon, a taxi driver from Leeds in Yorkshire had brought a banner saying: “If the King can’t come to Yorkshire, Yorkshire will come to the King.”
He “absolutely” agreed the king should have been buried in the county, but added: “I’m not here to protest – this is a funeral.”
All along the route, people had thrown themselves into the occasion, with hand-made flags bearing the white rose of York, pet dogs in the Yorkist king’s livery and yards of bunting – some of it made by local schoolchildren.
In Leicester Forest East, a group of about a dozen old ladies from a local retirement home sat in their chairs at the roadside, with plastic hats and shawls emblazoned with the Union flag.
This morning, today’s lengthy procession began at the University of Leicester, whose archaeologists discovered the king buried under a council car park in 2012 and who have been the legal custodians of his remains.
Members of the Richard III Society, including Philippa Langley – who campaigned for years to mount a dig for the king’s grave – attended a service outside the city campus’s Fielding Johnson building.
Afterwards, hundreds gathered along the university exit, some with flags depicting Richard’s royal standard.
Once outside the city, the coffin was then taken to farmland near Dadlington where a silver gilt white boar, Richard’s sigil – was recently unearthed.
The high status item is thought likely to have belonged to someone close to the king, and may have marked out where the thickest fighting took place near to where Fenn Lane Farm is today.
While there, a casket was filled with soil from Fotheringhay, Middleham in Yorkshire, and Fenn Lane Farm, and blessed, all the while as the warm spring sunshine bathed a crowd of about 300.
The soil was to represent the king’s passage through life, as he was born at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, three years before the start of the Wars of the Roses, then squired at Middleham, and is believed to have fallen near where the farm buildings now stand.
As the cortege left for another service at Dadlington church, it was led by two mounted knights herald, clad in full plate armour.
After Bosworth, the flag-waving crowds returned again in Newbold Verdon where the cortege containing the remains of a royal passed by takeaways, convenience stores and a gent’s barbers, also passing through throngs of people in Desford.
The king is to re-enter the city following a ceremony at the old medieval boundary at Bow Bridge, where a plaque had recounted the old myth that the king’s corpse, stripped of its armour and clothing, had been thrown in the river after Bosworth.
There the coffin will be transferred to a horse-drawn gun carriage before processing around the city centre and finally to the Service of Compline at Leicester Cathedral.
That ceremony will be attended by the Countess of Wessex, and also attended by the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, in recognition of Richard’s faith.
The Bishop of Leicester said the service would be “intimate, thoughtful, and an emotional moment”.
“It happens at dusk as the sun sets and as the thoughts of people always turns to the night and to the possibility of death,” added Bishop Stevens.
The service of compline itself, where the king’s coffin will lie in repose inside the cathedral, traces its roots “back to the pre-Reformation church” and had been chosen because of its links to Richard’s Catholic faith.
Bishop Stevens said it would be an emotional moment when the coffin was borne into the cathedral, not only for its symbolism but in remembrance of Richard the man.
“We’re looking forward to the opportunity to remind people of the extraordinary moment in English history the death of Richard III marks,” he said.
“It was a change of dynasty, an end of a period of violent civil war, the beginning of the period in which Shakespeare was to write his great tragedies, including Richard III, and a different way of governing the country.
“That’s an important point for all of us, whether we happen to be Christian observers or not.”
The king’s grave site had been thought lost to history until archaeologists discovered his crook-backed skeleton in the remains of an old monastery beneath a Leicester City Council car park.
Ms Langley battled for years for a dig on the site, despite rumours Richard’s body had been dumped in the city river after his death.
Today also marks the moment Richard is formally transferred to the cathedral from the custody of University of Leicester, whose archaeologists and scientists identified the king’s remains.
It was at Bosworth, where in August 1485 Richard fell while fighting Lancastrian forces under the command of Henry Tudor – later Henry VII, bringing a decisive end to the Wars of the Roses.
Contemporary accounts after the battle told of how Richard’s remains were buried “without pompe or solemne funeral” in the Greyfriars monastery.
When archaeologists uncovered his skeleton in August 2012, they found evidence of a hasty burial, with a grave so short the king’s head was propped up against its side.
He had suffered eight wounds to his head, among them a brutal slash to the base of skull which cleaved away a large portion of bone.
Another piercing blow, possibly from a sword, had been driven 4ins through his skull.
In contrast to his violent end, Richard’s coffin will lie in repose following today’s service, where it can be viewed by the general public from tomorrow.
Then on Thursday, his remains will be lowered into a purpose-built tomb made of Yorkshire Swaledale stone, before visitors are allowed back inside the cathedral to see the completed memorial the following day.
His final rest has been delayed by months after distant relatives brought a legal challenge through the courts arguing he should be reburied in York.
However, judges ruled in favour of Leicester, paving the way for a week of events marking the king’s life and death, starting with the cortege today.
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