THE RICHARD III SOCIETY
PATRON HRH THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER KG, GCVO
WHY A SOCIETY?
The aims of the Richard III Society can be summerised as follows:-
"In the belief that many of the traditional accounts of the character & career of Richard III are neither supported by sufficient evidence nor reasonably tenable, the Society aims to promote in every possible way, research into the life & times of Richard III, & to secure a reassessment of the material relating to this period, & of the role of this monarch in English history"
It might seem a little strange, if not bizarre that there is a Society with over 3,500 members world wide interested in a king of England who ruled for less than three years & who died over 500 years ago. Why? -what is so intriguing about Richard III???
The original Society known as The Fellowship of the White Boar was formed in 1924 by S Saxon Barton. He & a group of like minded friends wanted to encourage a more balanced approach to the study of the life & times of King Richard III. Their aim was to seek the truth behind the legend in order to remove the damage done to Richard's reputation by the continuing popularity & public belief in the 'dark & dreadful villain' of Tudor propaganda in Shakespeare’s wonderfully entertaining play Richard III.
So much has been achieved since those early days. The Society is not, as our late Chairman Phil Stone put it “ … the Richard III Adoration Society” but as our Mission statement clearly says, we actively promote research by funding bursaries & encouraging a better understanding of the period through education. Thanks to the foresight of Saxon Barton, the late 15C is now fifty years later, perhaps one of the most studied, researched & in consequence understood of all historic periods.
The Society is perhaps best summed up by its Patron, the present Richard, Duke of Gloucester:
"… the purpose and indeed the strength of the Richard III Society derives from the belief that the truth is more powerful than lies - a faith that even after all these centuries the truth is important. It is proof of our sense of civilised values that something as esoteric and as fragile as reputation is worth campaigning for."
Below is a link to the Richard III Society's new web-site where you will find a wealth of information on Richard, together with research articles and clickable icons to the Society's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.The Home Page is updated regularly with the latest news and with links to articles of interest.
KING RICHARD III - BURIED WITH DIGNITY AND HONOUR
This year 2022, marks the 10th anniversary of that momentous day in September 2012 when the mortal remains of the last Plantagenet king, Richard III were exhumed from a council car park in Leicester where they had been buried in what was the GreyFriar's Friary after his defeat at the battle of Bosworth on Monday August 22nd 1485. Two and a half years later in March 2015 he was buried with dignity and honour in a specially designed tomb in refurbished Leicester Cathedral.
The Society's new website has a section dedicated to the finding and reburial of Richard. It includes the 'reburial week diary' detailing the events as they happened in that historic week from Saturday 21st March to Friday 27th March This section can be accessed by clicking on the link below.
https://richardiii.net/finding-reburying-richard/