Richard III - Identifying the Remains 

The most astounding about his remains are, for me, his teeth. They link us directly to the past. They’re the same teeth people saw hundreds of years ago. Every time he spoke, shouted, wept, screamed, laughed, those around him saw the exact same teeth we get to see today. It’s amazing.

How cool and gratifying it must be to find out you are so directly descended from a historical figure like that, even if it's quite possible they weren't the greatest. We are so much more than individuals alone, we are links in a never-ending chain who carry fascinating stories in our cells, waiting to be discovered and told.

I find it interesting that despite his apparent back problems he happened to have been a military leader who led troops in battle, which is probably why he was more or less hacked to pieces. On one show despite losing the battle he refused to retreat which say something about the man himself.

The last English king to die in battle. And found so bravely with such a deformity. He came so close to Henry Tudor.

Now I think it would be interesting to do a computerised facial and body reconstruction from the bones.

Can you imaging being the pathologist who gets to fiddle with the King's teeth and skull? I would be frightened to drop the thing. Nerves of steel. And you can tell your grand kids...."I touched Richard III jaw bone"

There's always something eerie about seeing the teeth of historical figures, those are the only parts of their skeleton that would have been visible in life.

Richard fought to the death. A true warrior. I’m so glad that he’s finally been laid to rest with the respect and care he’s due. May he rest In peace.

He wouldnt have even gone into a battle if he was a coward. Can you imagine any king or president, prime minister or whatever doing that today in a war thay have declared and begun? Nor can I. He was the last english king killed in battle. No doubt he was a brave man ready to die for his beleifs and fully worthy of my respect.

May you now rest in peace. Personally I would like to have seen your eternal burial site at Yorkminster but the amazing work done by those in Leicester. I wonder if the actors playing Richard 111 will change their look?

zenoist2 He was indeed, Brave " _Richard led a cavalry charge deep into the enemy ranks in an attempt to end the battle quickly by striking at Henry Tudor himself.Accounts note that King Richard fought bravely and ably during this manoeuvre, unhorsing Sir John Cheyne, a well-known jousting champion, killing Henry's standard bearer Sir William Brandon and coming within a sword's length of Henry Tudor before being surrounded by Sir William Stanley's men and killed_ " Within a sword's length - that's around 40 inches. He very nearly got him. Bet old henry tudor needed a change of underwear before his men brought Richard down.

Philippa Langley is the one who pinpointed where Richard was buried and deserves ALL the credit for finding him.

I agree, there were several parties intent on removing the House of York. of course what happened during the Tudor dynasty was that virtually all the remaining descendants of the Plantagenet dynasty were executed. This facilitated the Stuart claim to the throne when the Tudors died out in 1603. And we all know what a total disaster that was. Short-sightedness always leads to problems down the line.

Can't wait to see "The Lost King". Props to the dedication it took to locate him.

The resemblance of Michael and Richard the III is uncanny. I noticed that in Michaels facial features as he was submitting the DNA sample. Great work.

Every time i hear her describe a wound i just start to think how the battle would have been and the scars he would've had if he'd lived through it

Impressive. And what is really mind boggling is, that proving this was Richard III ,could just have happened in a short window of time - not 50 years later. Neither of the living descendants of Richard, needed for the proof, have children. Or, as far as I know- the female descendant a daughter , essential for the mitochondrial DNA. And of course earlier DNA research had not reached the level it has now. Finding Richard - in the first place - would not have happened without the initiative of Philippa Langley and her and John Ashdown Hills passionate work and dedication.

Pretty amazing how they found him.

He had really nice teeth

This is just so fascinating! A true piece of history right there!

Brilliant work, congratulations to all the people involved in this project.

It's fascinating how we can identify remains now. Richard died like a warrior king. Fighting and refusing to back down. He was ruined by the Tudor propaganda machine.

Fantastic documentary ! thanks for keeping the public up to date with this wonderful discovery.

I fell in love with Laurence Olivier and Richard when I was 11 and went to see Richard III. I was enthralled, bewitched and completely fascinated by it. This was the start of a 70 year old obsession of love and indignation. I wanted to know all about Richard III. There is certainly no shortage of material to be found in writing , concerning Richard. He is the most written about king in the whole history of England’s kings. (and queens ). Richard is NOT the monster he is made out to be, or rather not as Tudor historians, namely Holinshed and Hall, and of course Bishop Morton. It was Morton who passed on his biased and distorted opinion to his pupil a certain Thomas More. Shakespeare also had a part to play in the distorted picture we have of Richard Richard was a man of his time and we should not project nor put your moral and social conscience to a man of the 15th century. Life was more brutal, and the king and the lords surrounding him, they were both brutal and cruel. That was their world. And of course during the war of the roses, called in their time the war of the cousins, this was even more true. Civil war is the most violent and heinous of conflicts far more savage than fighting an outside enemy Anyway it is not before time that historians are now presenting a more balanced picture of him, and rightly so. A particularly good account of the man and his times was the series of books by Paul Murray Kendall dealing with the events and personalities in at mid 1400s. I relished and avidly devoured them. I recommend them. R.I.P. Richard

I'm so glad they found him 💗

Exceptional work in all the disciplines....Bravo...!!!

Those shallower wounds could have been solid hits that occurred while Richard was wearing a helmet. Those suits of armour were pretty sophisticated and could take one hell of a pounding.

Watching all of your videos on the find, it's incredible!

Was there preexisting knowledge with regard to the general whereabouts of the body or was this truly an unintentional, lucky find by construction workers resurfacing or tearing up an old parking lot? Fascinating story.

What an amazing and historic discovery. Congratulations to everyone envolved.

One of the most intriguing stories of the past decade! I hope some day, the mystery of the Two Princes will be solved. How about some DNA research on the remains (claimed to be the Princes) in Westminster Abbey?

The biggest surprise to me was that he actually had a skeletal deformity since it was long suspected that was an exaggeration by the Tudors to make him more villainous.

Thanks, I found the article. In a related article about one of the princes, Edward, it says that two skeletons were found and re-buried in Westminster Abbey, but the identities have not been conclusively proven, and no one really knows what happened to the princes. They could do DNA tests now, if they wanted, but it would require permission from the queen, since nothing can be done with a royal grave or royal remains without royal permission (said the article).

I honour his brave and valiant fight to the death.

What an impressive video reflecting research of the highest caliber!!!!

Thank you so much, this is good work well presented. Brilliant!

Tari was very informative & clear & knowlegable and then to hear she is from here in Vancouver Canada.. veryinteresting 👍🫠

Obviously Richard was a brave man

Your comments are too stark. I worked with a cardiac consultant at the Royal Free in London many years ago who had scoliosis. During morning ward rounds he was upright and bright. Toward the end of the day he was tipping over to his left and breathless. I imagine Richard 111 was much the same.

Philippa Jayne Langley is the name of the woman who started this entire project. She is the one who believed he was there, she is the one who fought tooth and nail to get the site excavated, she is the one behind it all. Yet she was never mentioned, and these people make it sound like their own glory. Philippa Jayne Langley -- remember her name

Yes, they now have the male Plantagenet DNA, donated by the Beaufort family (who are directly descended in the male line from John of Gaunt). So if permission were given they could try and match this with the bones in the Abbey. But it won't happen. It would be opening a huge can of worms.

He absorbed a terrible series of blows. I wonder what the sequence of wounds was. A brave warrior.

Thank you Philippa for your tenacity that gave U.K. a piece of historical truth. I hope one day to visit king's Richard tomb in Leicester.

It would have been nice to acknowledge Philippa Langley who actually located him, despite ridicule from all and sundry.

I saw the entire documentary on television. It was interesting to see how a person untrained in history or archeology could do what the experts had failed to do, find Richard’s resting place.and Shakespeare had it right all along, he did suffer from a severe curvature of the spine.

I am obsessed with this!

Those teeth are 560 years old and still look better than alot of people i see today.

Not to mention the big letter R painted over the spot.

The first archeologist is being totally disingenuous. It was the lady from the Richard III society who identified the burial location. The archeologist didn't believe her, and dismissed her. Watch the TV documentary. It is absolutely fascinating. The archeologist was patronising and arrogant until she was proved wrong.

Im in the US and having problems finding the episode to watch over here. Do you have any ideas where I can watch this at?

Absolutely fascinating.

I just find it amazing that these people are actually touching and pulling out teeth of an ancient king

It’s amazing how they found only one body and that was the King’s remains.

Now, if only we could find DB Cooper.... 😉

I'LL BET KING RICHARD IS HONORED BY YOUR TREATMENT AND SERVICE YOU HELD FOR HIM..

6:07. She kind of talks around it, but the injury to the pelvis was from a dagger up the caboose.

Simply extraordinary

She states that you grind up the powder and put it into a tube, and while you are doing this you also place two (2) blank tubes, either side and back. And then she says that what you are hoping for is to find DNA in the tube, and not in the two blanks. And then she says that is exactly what happened, as the blanks were empty and the only DNA we had came from the tube. It seems rather intuitive that one would only get DNA from the tube where you put the powdered bone, and not from the blank tubes. And one can also add that when centrifuging samples, controls and counterweighting tubes are added. It seems that her explanation of this is rather redundant.

Were these the bones that were found about 1-2 yrs ago in an area that wss being dug up for a parking lot. Seems like i read an article about it.

so....there appears to be a new fracture of the skull above the left eye at or between the frontal and parietal. especially as they don't mention it as an injury to the skull at or before death. my first thought was that someone (digging) messed up a bit.....just a guess. hope I'm wrong. if so wouldn't you hate to be the person that put a trowel thru Richard III's skull? but accidents do happen.

Where is Phillipa Langley the woman who actually FOUND Richard the third?

So we can confirm then that he really did have a hunched back and a slender figure. Interesting.

How they found Michael?

He had very healthy teeth!

Which wikipedia article contains this information? I'll go and read it. Thanks.

So exciting!

geez..poor guy sure did Suffer..RIP..

That's interesting. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for your thoughtful reply.

The Richard 3rd Society appear more interested in depicting Richard as a great Monarch than they do in facts. He had a prominent scoliosis rather than a hunch. The R3rdS seem to think this means he had a normal gait, the fact indicate he would not ,.

Thanks. It's all quite fascinating.

thanks for your reply. two skeletons were found. it's in wikipedia and here is part of it, "In 1674, some workmen remodelling the Tower of London dug up a wooden box containing two small human skeletons"

FASCINATING!!🌹🌹

The lady who identified the spot where his skeleton might be was scoffed at...the tweed jackets don’t always know it all folks.

Très passionnant 😍

6:34 "the skeleton that WE dug up?" You saw it after it was dug up. I saw the footage.

This is so amazing.

I'm not disagreeing with anybody or anything, all i was saying is that it's really nice something interesting has happened here, that's all.

People saying Richard died a honest death yet he was the one Incharged of the boys in the tower who mysteriously disappeared.

Amazing !

.....and this is one reason perhaps permission will not be given to analyse the bones. Not that it really matters today, but if Edward IV's illegitimacy were confirmed, then all his children would not be of Royal blood. This includes Elizabeth of York, who married Henry VII. Thus, all subsequent monarchs to the present day would be treading on thin ice (the present Queen descends from Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII, who married James IV of Scotland, from them all houses are descended).

The analysis of the bones in 1933 suggests they were closer in age than the princes--and one might be a girl. There was nothing to date them...who knows they may have been buried at ground level when the tower was built (apparently they were under some 10 foot of building!) It's like the monks at Glastobury claiming they found King Arthur's grave-there WAS a gravepit there but it was probably a bronze age burial!

Absolutely DETEST this university with all my heart for everything they allowed to happen in their crime-ridden halls of residence. Shame on all of you.

Whose idea was it to start the dig in the first case?

Fascinating!

I was thinking that, it would be really interesting to see what the whole body would have looked like. The facial reconstruction was amazing enough though and it banished a few myths, not all reconstructions are as flattering and they show that history paints a rosy picture, just look at the recent reconstruction of Robert Burns. He wasn't a bonny lad like Richard!

Richard the III rd in Shakespeare's drama is a fascinating character. I love this villain.

Yes he was brave and was willing to die to stay in power, and he was willing to kill and he did both. No doubt in my mind he killed those poor little nephews of his, no doubt. He may have had someone else do it but we will never know. He had the opportunity and a huge motive.

That's the way it is living in those times by the sword. The fittest remain alive and those lessor die by the sword!!

Amazing

SO INTERESTING!

I am related to this King!

Wonderful!

What is really persuasive are the cuts on the bones.

We now have the male DNA of the Plantagenet family so it's possible they can test the supposed bones of Edward V and Richard of York now in Westminster Abbey. As far as Richard III is concerned an Act of Parliament authorised him to become king, the two nephews being declared illegitimate. He was the crowned and annointed King of England. Despite what he subsequently may have done, he was Sovereign and Head of State of England 1483-85 and he should have an appropriate burial.

Why wasn’t he found in a casket versus just lying in dirt? Had the casket disintegrated?

Ok thank you :) I will do that! I appreciate that information!!

Obviously he knew he had a bad back but he never would have expected it to go through a MRI machine 500 years after he died!

What I've had trouble understanding is who thought let's go to this spot in a car park in Leicester and there could lay the remains of king Richard lll? And it was him!?! Very random and lucky.

Interesting. I did get to the Tower in my trip to England. I am not sure if he was responsible for “if murdered Princess”.

Interesting video. I am glad he didn’t end up in the river after all.