Free The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds by Philippa Langley Page B

and the journey to Edinburgh’s Waverley Station is quiet, the familiar tree-lined suburbs slipping by. Would I see them differently on my return? Would my quest for the grave of King Richard III change everything for me? As I board the train for Leicester the sick feeling in my stomach finally subsides. This is what I’ve been fighting for. The dig is finally happening.
    As the train pulls out of Waverley Station, I’m actually following in Richard’s footsteps. When I was researching Richard’s life it had come as a revelation to learn that he had once walked the streets of Edinburgh, having been sent north by his brother, Edward IV, in 1482 (see here ).
    At the next stop, Berwick, it was strange to think that the train stood on the remnants of what had once been the Great Hall of Berwick Castle, where Richard had also stayed. The train heads out over Northumberland, and Percy country, towards Durham, a city that held a special place in his heart. St Cuthbert, patron saint of Durham Cathedral, was much venerated by Richard who had dedicated a stall to him in his church at Middleham. Not far from Durham was Barnard Castle, one of Richard’s favourite residences where you can still see his personal emblem of a boar carved into a surviving window tracery. And nearby was Saleby, the home of the Brackenbury family, his most loyal supporters and adherents. Robert is the most famous Brackenbury, the man Richard would make Constable of the Tower of London, and who would be immortalized by Shakespeare as ‘Gentle Brackenbury’.
    If Durham and its cathedral and Barnard Castle captivated him, it was the next stop that surely held his heart completely. York was always Richard’s ‘fair city’, the Archbishop’s Palace chosen by him as the place where he would invest his young son as Prince of Wales, and whose people had known Richard man and boy.
    We’re delayed at Doncaster so I miss the connection at Sheffield but, with thirty minutes to spare built into my journey, I should still make the on-site midday meeting at the Social Services car park with Richard Buckley, co-director of University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), Dr Christine Fiddler, interim Heritage Manager for Leicester City Council, and Mick Bowers, Head of Greyfriars Property Services. I check my phone. No calls or texts from the media. The press release for the launch event in the car park tomorrow went out yesterday, embargoed until midnight tonight. Perhaps in the 527 years since Richard’s death at Bosworth and interment in Greyfriars Church, the world has turned too many times and there’s no interest in the search for his grave. A part of me is relieved that I’ll then be able to perform my role quietly, away from the media spotlight. But my relief is tinged with frustration. If no one cares about the quest for Richard III’s grave then the chance finally to air the dichotomy between evil Shakespearean villain and man of good reputation – to challenge the status quo – will have been missed.
    The train trundles on to Leicester. It’s nearly eleven o’clock and my phone rings. It’s Fiona Phythian, education correspondent for the Leicester Mercury, who wants to do an article on the dig for tomorrow’s edition. I give her as much of the story as I can, and explain that the full story will be available tomorrow at the car park. I hear her frustration but if I say too much now this will ruin any chance we have of attracting other media to the launch. As the train pulls into Leicester Station the phone rings again. This time it’s Nick Britten, Midlands correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, who tells me the editor wants to run a piece. Thrilled that a national is interested, I give him as much information as I can.
    In Leicester, I walk the short distance between the train station and the Greyfriars Building in Grey Friars Street, which allows me fifteen minutes of fresh air to clear my head and prepare myself for what’s to come.