RECOLLECTIONS OF SUNDAY 22 MARCH 2015: THE PROCESSION, THE HANDOVER AND THE COMPLINE SERVICE
The emergence of the coffined remains of Richard from the Fielding Johnson building at Leicester University on the morning of Sunday, 22 March 2015 marked the start of reinterment week. After the uncertainty of the judicial review and the year of meticulous planning that followed, many wondered if the events would live up to their billing and how the public would respond. On this quite remarkable day, the crowds that lined the streets of Leicester and Leicestershire to greet the long dead king told their own story.
KEVIN SCHURER, HISTORIAN AND GENEAOLOGIST, ON FOLLOWING THE COFFIN OUT OF THE FIELDING JOHNSON BUILDING FOR THE FIRST SERVICE OF THE DAY
"We'd planned this moment where everyone would be in position, and then the doors would open, and the coffin would come out. And I walked out behind it, and I thought, oh, my God, I thought, everywhere you look there were people. We'd expected maybe a couple of hundred might turn up. The University had never been full of so many people. Everywhere you looked, the whole road leading into the University was crowded with people."
RICHARD SMITH, CHAIR OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE BRANCH OF THE RICHARD III SOCIETY, TALKING ABOUT THE BOSWORTH BATTLEFIELD SERVICE
"It was a really good service and very moving. And of course, there were some people in costume, appropriate military costume for the period, and also the battery of the king's guns, so these are people in medieval military costume firing a salute on replica and medieval cannon, because there would have been some of those at Bosworth in 1485. And they did, they were working so hard because they almost got it as good as what happens in London on royal occasions. But of course, there was a much more. Modern artillery is so much easier to work than these medieval. So, that was really good, and it was a very moving service and very meaningful to me."
TIM STEVENS, FORMER BISHOP OF LEICESTER, RECOUNTING BEING PART OF THE CORTEGE TRAVELLING BACK TO LEICESTER FROM BOSWORTH BATTLEFIELD
"The thing that I remember most of all was the long, slow journey from the battlefield back into the heart of the city. And I'd been up, I think, since about five o'clock that morning, and my chaplain, who was working with me, was sitting in my car of the undertakers next to me, and I said, I'm going to just take a few minutes sleep, wake me up if anything exciting happens. As we were going along in the car, and he just he rapped me up immediately, "There are people everywhere, you can't go to sleep!" I thought there might be little gatherings in some of the villages, but actually it turned out the roads were lined almost all the way to the city."
We got to the city gate, where the Mayor greeted the coffin and led….made a speech, and I just sensed…..he was a professional politician, leader at city council and mayor of the city, knew the city, had been to endless events over the years, but I think he reckoned this was one of the biggest events in his life as mayor of the city, I just felt that.
RICHARD BUCKLEY, FORMER DIRECTOR OF ULAS, RECALLING THE APPROACH TO WEST BRIDGE IN THE CORTEGE
"But then nothing had prepared me for... The reception in Leicester was remarkable. So, we got to West Bridge, where, of course, that area where Richard had crossed the river over Bow Bridge and all that, and then Leicester's oldest church, St Nicholas, we - as we approached it, now these children with banners, and you know, that really did bring a tear to my eye. It was, it was emotionally quite hard to process, you know, my hometown, and all this turnout of people who are excited about what we'd done."
SANDRA LEESON, CATHEDRAL VOLUNTEER, REMEMBERING THE PROCESSION THROUGH THE STREETS OF LEICESTER
"I came in early and stood near Jubilee Square waiting for the procession to come up from St Nicholas Church and quite a few people from our village came in as well, so we stood with them, so, that was very exciting, waiting. When the procession came, we all gasped at the horses. ...with the armour. It was absolutely fabulous. And then when it passed, we ran from our position and went somewhere at the back of the Cathedral, so that we could see it come back again."
DAVID MONTEITH, FORMER DEAN OF LEICESTER, REFLECTING ON THE HANDOVER OF THE REMAINS OF RICHARD III FROM THE UNIVERSITY TO THE CATHEDRAL
"It felt like the end of a very long period of time, and the beginning of another period of time. I received a copy of the archaeological license, a sort of a formal copy of it from the archaeologist Richard Buckley and then Bishop Tim and I walked into the Cathedral with Richard's coffin behind us. And as we approached the Cathedral, the Cathedral was flanked either side by two great horses in full medieval regalia, with knights on board and suddenly, that juxtaposition between the past and the present came very much into view and I just thought, oh, my goodness, how on earth have I found myself in this situation?"
GORDON ARTHUR, FUNDRAISER AND SUPPORTER OF LEICESTER CATHEDRAL, RECALLING THE MOMENT THE PALL WAS LAID ON THE COFFIN DURING THE SERVICE OF COMPLINE
"The Duke of Gloucester, of course, was not one of the ones who was holding the pall, but his role was to come into the Cathedral behind the coffin, and then to wait while the coffin was brought forward, and I had to say to him, "Sir, please, would you wait at this point here", because the cameras must look all the way down to see the coffin and without anybody being in front. He said, "Yes". When we actually came do it, he actually either, because he forgot or because he decided he knew better, he decided to stand in front of the coffin, looking at it, and there is a wonderful photograph of him standing in front of the coffin, looking back towards the west, which is a memorable view which many millions of people must have seen."
DAVID MONTEITH, FORMER DEAN, TALKING ABOUT THE LAYING OF THE PALL
"And yet, when the pall was placed on it, it sort of gave the whole coffin another kind of level of dignity about it. And the fact that people from the House of York and the House of Lancaster jointly did that, that to me, was very profound, and it was a very clear piece of symbolism that could be understood."
