The remains of Richard III have been missing for over 500 years. He was killed in battle at the age of 32 in 1485. His grave at the Greyfriars Priory was never marked, and the priory was ransacked and destroyed by Richard's successor, King Henry VII, no fan of his predecessor. Eventually, a parking lot was poured over a plot of ground where the priory once stood. Scholarly clues lead the determined to zero in on this parking lot with very modern detection equipment.
One of those determined, Philippa Langley, a writer and passionate member of the Richard III Society, is given credit for raising the money needed to continue the research and subsequent dig, and now positive identification.
Perhaps, in a bit of over-the-top glee, Ms. Langley poetically says, "I think he wanted to be found, he was ready to be found, and we found him..." She certainly wasn't talking about Whitey Bulger.
It is probably best left to another line of inquiry as to how a skeleton signalled that it wanted to be found and was ready to come out of hiding. If this is the case, there are a great number of people who have long counted on the axiom that "dead men tell no tales." If skeletons do talk, then some people are going to have to "lawyer up."
The British are a very historical and possessive lot when it comes to their Kings and Queens. We are a much younger country, and by all accounts haven't misplaced any living or deceased presidents. As such, we search for another level of rank: judges and union leaders.
Judge Joseph Force Crater has been missing since he got into a cab in 1930 on an August night after a restaurant meal in Manhattan. More theories than strands of spaghetti on a plate have been put forth over the years. There are still books and articles published about the disappearance. Suffice it to say, the judge had many connections, and it is likely someone wanted those connections ended, just like someone was not too happy about King Richard III on that battlefield in 1485.
The disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, the leader of the Teamster's Union who went somewhere in 1975, never to be found again, is another person around whom many varied explanations prevail.
There are other types of people who have been missing for years and are presumed dead. But, we'll stop where we are. There are a lot of us in this country, and it is impossible to keep track of everyone.
It is hardly likely that anyone in this country will wonder about the judge, or Jimmy, 500 years after their disappearances. There is no William Shakespeare--or whoever he was--to immortalize them. No one in this era would write about the King's bad back curvature and describe it as "a lump of foul deformity." The Bard wouldn't last between commercials on daytime television with that utterance. Times change.
Shakespeare's Richard III play is still performed. The positive id of the remains will only further propel the academics, educators and theater people into more King Richard III themes.
Make no mistake, it is all good news for our cousins. Usually, Kings and Queens get interred underneath Westminster Abbey in London. The current momentum is to respectfully place Richard's remains in Leicester's Anglican cathedral, in very close proximity to where the bones were found. No dancing spine on a table like those in a mall or mass transit terminal reminding us we all have bad backs ever since we stood up to grab that apple, or whatever it was that attracted our attention.
No, a visitor's center will be dedicated to King Richard III. A parking lot is also expected to be built.
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