The Richard III Society is a Ricardian society dedicated to the re-assessment of the reputation of King

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

, the last Plantagenet King of England and the last English King to be killed in battle, and whose reputation was widely maligned in the centuries since his death, in large part due to Tudor propaganda. In 2012, the society gained worldwide attraction due to its role in the finding of King Richard's remains.

History

The society was founded in 1924 by

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

surgeon Samuel Saxon Barton (1892-1957) as The Fellowship of the White Boar, Richard's

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fir ...

and a symbol of the Yorkist army in the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...

. Its membership was originally a small group of interested amateur historians whose aim was to bring about a re-assessment of the reputation of Richard III. The society became moribund during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In 1951, Josephine Tey published her detective novel '' The Daughter of Time'', in which Richard's guilt is examined and doubted. In 1955,

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

released his film of Shakespeare's ''

'', which at the beginning admitted that the play was based on legend, and a sympathetic, detailed biography of Richard was published by Paul Murray Kendall, all of which went some way towards re-invigorating the society. The Fellowship of the White Boar was renamed The Richard III Society in 1959. In 1980,

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard Alexander Walter George; born 26 August 1944) is a member of the British royal family. He is the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, the youngest ...

, became the society's

Patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

. Richard III was

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester ( ) is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curre ...

before ascending the throne, therefore he was before his accession (Prince) Richard, Duke of Gloucester. In 1986, the society established the Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, a registered charity, to advance research and publication related to the history of late medieval England. The society publishes a scholarly journal, ''The Ricardian''.

Rediscovery of Richard III's remains

In 2012, the society, working in partnership with the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

and Leicester City Council, exhumed a skeleton at the site of the former Greyfriars Church that was later confirmed to be that of the King. Philippa Langley, the secretary of the Scottish Branch of the Richard III Society, inaugurated the quest for King Richard's lost grave as part of her ongoing research into the controversial monarch. Her project marked the first-ever search for the grave of an anointed King of England, and in 2013 was made into an acclaimed TV documentary ''Richard III: King In A Car Park'' by Darlow Smithson Productions for Channel 4. Langley and Ricardian historian John Ashdown-Hill were awarded the MBE in recognition of their services to "the Exhumation and Identification of Richard III" (''London Gazette'') in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 2022 the story of Philippa Langley and the rediscovery of Richard III’s remains were made into the feature film '' The Lost King'' directed by

Stephen Frears Sir Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is a British director and producer of film and television, often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply-drawn characters. He has received numerous a ...

References

External links

Richard III Society
(i.e England)
Richard III Society, American Branch

Richard III Society, Canadian Branch

Richard III Society, New South Wales Branch

Richard III Society, New Zealand Branch

Richard III Society, Queensland Branch

{{Authority control 1924 establishments in the United Kingdom Historical societies of the United Kingdom Richard III of England

History

Rediscovery of Richard III's remains

See also

References

External links