Richard III will be buried under a raised tomb made out of Yorkshire limestone, cathedral chiefs have announced. Leicester Cathedral said it wanted the tomb to have links which would reflect the last of England’s Yorkist Kings.
It comes amid a legal challenge by distant relatives of the king, who have questioned the decision to make Leicester the final resting place for his remains.
Plans for the raised tomb, which will be carved out of finely worked Swaledale fossil limestone and feature a deep carved cross, will now be submitted to planning officials for a final decision.
The limestone is quarried in Swaledale, Yorkshire, near to Middleham, where Richard III underwent his boyhood training in knighthood and later made his home.
Set within the cathedral’s chancel, the £1.3 million project will see the tomb placed on a floor inlaid with a large Yorkist white rose.
The name of the king, his date of birth and death, along with his personal motto Loyaulte me Lie (Loyalty binds Me) and his boar badge will also be carved into a dark circular band around the tomb.
The project will also see changes to internal layout, windows and lighting in the cathedral.
The plans will now be reviewed by the Cathedral Fabric Commission for England, with a decision expected later this month.
If all goes to plan, the cathedral is hoping the king’s remains can be reinterred in a ceremony full of pomp next year.
But the plans also rely on the outcome of a legal challenge from a group of distant relatives of the king, who call themselves the Plantagenet Alliance.
They have applied to the High Court for a judicial review into the decision to grant the city cathedral licence as the final resting place for the king’s remains.
They want to see the remains placed in York, where Richard had strong links. Richard’s remains were discovered by archaeologists from the University of Leicester after a dig in a city centre car park following a campaign by the Richard III Society and with the permission of Leicester City Council, which owned the plot of ground.
The Dean of Leicester, Rev. David Monteith, said: “We fully respect the process of the Judicial