'Ricardians' rejoice in royal reburial for Richard III.

Byline: Richard Duckett

It was a reburial fit for a king.

Close to 530 years after his death on Aug. 22, 1485, in the Battle of Bosworth, England's King Richard III was reinterred with much pomp and solemnity (and actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who turns out to be a relative, reading a poem by the nation's poet laureate) in what was described as his final resting place March 26 in Leicester Cathedral. The cathedral is close to the parking lot where the king's skeleton was unearthed in 2012.

The burial was the culmination of ceremonies and services in the city of Leicester, England, last week that included some 35,000 people lining the streets to witness the funeral cortege. Twenty thousand filed through the cathedral to see the coffin. People came to Leicester from around the world.

"It was absolutely a perfect trip from our perspective,'' said Sally Keil of Woodstock, Conn., membership chairwoman of the American branch of the Richard III Society.

For "Ricardians,'' people dedicated to reclaiming the reputation of Richard III, the events may have helped bring an end to a long winter of discontent, as the king has suffered a good deal of ignominy over the past 500 years or so.

"I'm extremely happy that his remains were found and that he was able to be given a dignified burial,'' Keil said during an interview after returning from her trip. "He died in battle, he was a warrior king, he was fighting valiantly --- even his enemies say that -- and now he's been given a dignified end.''

Keil said 47 members of the American Branch of the Richard III Society went to Leicester, a city in the Midlands of England. Leicester Cathedral is small, seating about 630 people, and a lottery was held (with 14,000 hopefuls) for tickets to seats at some events. Keil was not at the burial, but she did get a ticket to the "Service of Compline for the Reception of the Remains of King Richard III'' on March 22. Earlier that day, a coffin bearing the king's remains left the campus of Leicester University, where DNA tests had confirmed that the skeleton was that of King Richard, and taken to Bosworth Field a few miles from the city, then back to Leicester and into the care of the cathedral.

Keil said one problem inside the cathedral was the profusion of cameras and bright lighting. Britain's television Channel 4 covered the service live. "It was really exciting to get a ticket, but it was very difficult to really get involved with the service,'' she said.

The next day...