On Thursday 26 March 2015 Richard III was at last reinterred in Leicester Cathedral. As assorted guests gathered to witness this remarkable event and the TV cameras rolled, it really did feel like the eyes of the world were fixed on Leicester. After Richard's unseemly and hasty first burial, and his astonishing discovery 527 years later, this was indeed a fitting end to the story. Below our witnesses share their memorable stories.
ALISON ADAMS, CATHEDRAL CANON PASTOR, RECALLING THE PRE-SERVICE ROBING
"I remember when we all kind of gathered and said prayers beforehand and put our robes on people... I don't think people were saying very much. Don't think even the Archbishop of Canterbury had much to say. I think we were all just, "What are we doing here?", kind of thing, you know, I just remember gathering in that room and we were all robing up, and then we, you know...There are many moments when you robe up with dignitaries and so on. It was a bit different."
GORDON ARTHUR, FUNDRAISER & SUPPORTER OF LEICESTER CATHEDRAL, ON HELPING RICHARD DANNATT, FORMER CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER OF LONDON, ON WITH HIS UNIFORM
"But I was saying about Richard Dannatt. I did go in to just make contact with him, because he had driven up from London. He had to change into his uniform, and all the rest of it. And I found him in the Guildhall changing into his uniform, and he said, "Ah, you've turned up just the right moment. You can help me put this on". So, I had to help him into his uniform. And so that was a nice... a nice touch. And I said, "Do you know there are two Yeoman warders out there?" He said, "Oh, no, what have I..." It turned out these two Yeoman warders who, for one reason or another, were not, had not been asked to attend, but who had decided... would be fun knowing their boss was coming, they thought it'd be fun to come too. So, they made their way to Leicester and changed into their kit, and although they didn't have passes, and of course, there was very strict security, but they managed to evade that and stood at the entrance to the... to Cathedral gardens to… and welcomed the Countess of Wessex. When she arrived, she was representing the Queen, so again, this was something that had not been foreseen or planned for but was wonderful that they were there dressed up."
SALLY HENSHAW, SECRETARY OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE BRANCH OF THE RICHARD III SOCIETY ON GATHERING IN THE GUILDHALL FOR THE PROCESSION
"We gathered in the Guildhall to begin with, because there were some of us in the procession, and those of us that had been kindly invited by the Cathedral because we've been on committees……..And I can remember silly little things, like the lady who was organising everybody saying, now there's a mirror there, have a look at yourselves…. Now don't fiddle with your hats on the parade…..Get yourself…. Now just walk out the….. sort of silly things I remember."
RICHARD SMITH, CHAIRMAN OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE BRANCH OF THE RICHARD III SOCIETY, ON THE PROCESSION TO THE CATHEDRAL
"Oh, well, it was a glorious occasion. Some of us were invited to walk in a procession into the Cathedral before the event began, and so we were asked to assemble in the Guildhall, and then we sort of walked around the block, but that was really fantastic, and I felt so sort of honoured and privileged. I felt very privileged to have been invited to attend because, of course, there were more people wanting to be there than could be seated, so I felt very honoured."
JOHN FLORANCE, FORMER RADIO LEICESTER PRESENTER, RECALLING THE COMMENTARY ON THE SERVICE
"When the service actually started, one of the things we decided was we weren't going to do too much commentary, because there was a lot going on in the church. There was music, wonderful music, which we didn't want to talk over. And there was the liturgy, but there were certain gaps, and you had to explain what was going on. But I don't think anyone quite twigged that what we were doing was watching it on telly, except at one point someone barged into the room. We had to turn around and tell them to be quiet, but no one noticed anything."
DAVID MONTEITH, FORMER DEAN OF LEICESTER, TALKING ABOUT A SETBACK AT THE LECTERN
"So, we, you know, processed into the front with Richard III, and I turned right to go to the lectern, and then I had to use…. Sort of start the service with the introductory words. I got to the lectern, and there was no order of service there. And I now… luckily because I've learned…. I wasn't a boy scout…. but I've learned to be prepared, and I had a paper copy of it in my pocket. So, I had to sort of get this out of my pocket from underneath all my robes and things, which wasn't very easy, to do it with honour and dignity, dignity and honour, but I managed that."
ALISON ADAMS, CATHEDRAL CANON PASTOR, REMEMBERING THE PLACING OF RICHARD'S BOOK OF HOURS BY THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER
"And the third bit of that, that was so poignant, was the prayer book, because it was his prayer book, and we'd reunited him briefly with the prayer book that he will have been praying with just before he died. And it's only a book, I mean, it's a very precious historical book, but it is only a book. It doesn't have a soul or identity, but it somehow felt as if... that you were doing something there, and the fact that the current Richard, Duke of Gloucester, carried that prayer book, and I'm sure he knew what he was doing, because he's chair of the Richard III Society, because he's Richard, Duke of Gloucester."
MATHEW MORRIS, DIG SUPERVISOR, TALKING ABOUT THE LOWERING OF THE COFFIN
"And then, of course, we got that almost private moment, almost of the reburial, the actual lowering of the coffin. Because we were... Well, there was probably at most 20 people on each side that could actually see it. Everybody else could only see it on a TV screen. So actually, that felt really quite intimate and private. And that again, that felt quite nice and fitting as well."
PETE HOBSON, REINTERMENT PROJECT DIRECTOR, REMEMBERING A WORRYING MOMENT AS THE TOMB WAS LOWERED
"There was one moment I'm aware of, as the soldiers carrying a coffin from the back to the tomb to drop it, place it into the tomb, had to edge carefully, four each side, up the tomb and on the base. And it's not a very wide base. And one of the soldiers was, as he moved up... his foot was going more and more over the edge. And there was just that thought, if he stumbles and falls off and the whole thing falls flat, that will not look good."
ALISON ADAMS, CATHEDRAL CANON PASTOR, LOOKING BACK ON THE REINTERMENT SERVICE
"The actual reinterment for me was absolute wow. And this is why I keep saying... talking about the arc of history, or the sweep of history, really, because there we were in 2015, hundreds of years later, doing what Richard would have wanted doing for him when he died in the 15th century. And what Richard paid money for chantry chapels for priests to pray for the repose of his soul, and then suddenly, there are about a dozen of us round this, this hole in the ground, in the middle of the Cathedral, doing just that, so we were almost back in the 15th century, or they were with us."
JULIAN HAYWOOD, JOINT REINTERMENT PROJECT DIRECTOR, REMEMBERING A CRISIS AVERTED
"The army guy brought the coffin in, and they lowered the coffin into the... into the tomb, and then stepped back, and they were due to process out and into the Old Song School. And they got to the door of the Old Song School, and it was locked, and I can't remember who it was from the Cathedral, rang me and said, "We can't get the soldiers out, they're standing like spare parts at the back, and we can't get through the Song School and out. We don't want to process through the congregation and out of the main entrance, what can we do?"
…and Nick said, "Leave it with me". And he was dressed all in black that day, and he'd got his ear piece in, and he'd got his shades on, and confidently just walked into the Cathedral and strode through the Cathedral, discretely, but strode through the Cathedral looking every inch part of the security detail for the day, got this big bunch of keys out of his pocket, opened it, and the problem was solved."
