PART FOUR

Lord of the North, Anne’s Man

London, 16 January, 2013

Finally to see the face of the last warrior King of England, the man I had sought for the last four years, would be the culmination of a long and difficult journey. It would also be an enormous personal relief since after all the research it would have seemed wrong not to proceed to the project’s visual conclusion.

…The reconstruction then followed a process based on the anatomical formations of the head and neck, where scientific standards are used to interpret the facial features….

The reconstructed head was set up in the centre of the main archeological Institute, University College London. To enable DSP* to record me meeting Richard for the first time, I was asked to close my eyes as Simon Farnaby led me in. After a few moments’ hesitation, I opened my eyes. Richard’s face took me completely by surprise. I don’t know exactly what I had expected but it wasn’t this….it was the face of a young man who looked as if he were about to speak, and to smile. I searched in vain for the tyrant. I can’t describe the joy I felt. I was face to face with the real Richard III.

—Philippa Langley, The King’s Grave

*Darlow Smithson Productions, the documentary filmmakers of the Looking for Richard Project.