Remains found under a parking lot at the Grey Friars excavation in Leicester have been declared Monday as the remains of King Richard III.
/ AP photo: University of Leicester
LEICESTER, ENGLAND -- Scientists say they have found the 500-year-old remains of England's King Richard III under a parking lot in the city of Leicester.
University of Leicester researchers say it is "beyond reasonable doubt" that a battle-scarred skeleton unearthed last year is the king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.
"The last English king to die in battle, Richard had been buried five centuries earlier with little pomp in the church of the Grey Friars, all physical trace of which had long since been lost," researchers said.
DNA from the skeleton matches a sample taken from a distant living relative.
Richard was depicted in a play by William Shakespeare as a hunchbacked usurper who left a trail of bodies - including those of his two princely nephews, murdered in the Tower of London - on his way to the throne.
Many historians say that villainous image is unfair.
