Britain's lost King Richard III, lost no more... found under parking lot

5:42 PM, Feb 4, 2013   |    comments
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Jo Appleby, a lecturer in Human Bioarchaeology, at University of Leicester, School of Archaeology and Ancient History, who led the exhumation of King Richard III's remains from a Leicester parking lot, speaks at the university, Feb. 4, 2013.


Britain's lost king has been found.

DNA tests have proved "beyond a reasonable doubt" that a battle-scarred skeleton found under a municipal parking lot in central England belongs to 15th-century King Richard III, the last English monarch to die in combat, scientists said Monday.

The University of Leicester, which led the search, refused to speculate on what the announcement would be prior to the much-anticipated news conference, but archaeologists, historians and local tourism officials had all hoped for confirmation that the monarch's long-lost remains had been located.





For centuries, the location of Richard's body was unknown. Records say he was buried by the Franciscan monks of Grey Friars at their church in Leicester, 100 miles north of London. The church was closed and dismantled after King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1538, and its location eventually was forgotten.



Ahead of Monday's revelation of the results, the University of Leicester released an image of the body's skull. Archaeologist Jo Appleby said it was found "in good condition, although fragile," and had yielded detailed information about the individual.

As CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports, the circumstantial evidence was pretty convincing. But to prove it was him, researchers had to track down descendants of Richard's family, like Michael Ibsen; his nephew, sixteen generations later, and compare DNA.

Researchers began conducting scientific tests as soon as the bones were discovered, including radiocarbon dating to determine the skeleton's age.


To this day, the Tudors remain more famous and more glamorous - especially Henry VII's son, the much-married Henry VIII.


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