For a monarch who was so extraordinarily unpopular in life, it's ironic that now everyone wants a piece of Richard III.
A High Court battle over where the remains of Richard III should be buried is to get under way on Thursday, and will examine the British government's decision to authorise the exhumation and reinterment of the monarch’s remains in Leicester.
It has been brought by a group of Richard III’s distant relatives, the Plantagenet Alliance Limited, who are campaigning to see the former king reburied in his native city of York.
Matthew Howarth, partner and judicial review expert at Yorkshire law firm Gordons, representing the Plantagenet Alliance, told History Extra: “We are challenging the process by which the decision [to grant the University of Leicester the licence] was made.
“Richard III was a culturally significant person, and there should have been a broader consultation about the location of his reburial.
“We would like to see the licence quashed, and a panel of properly qualified experts set up to consider where he should be reburied. The Plantagenet Alliance will willingly stand by the decision reached by the panel.
“Our client, the Plantagenet Alliance, is a not-for-profit entity, and Gordons is working with them on a conditional fee [aka no win, no fee] basis. The University of Leicester and the Ministry of Justice are, of course, in a different position. So this is a real ‘David and Goliath’ battle.”
