Another genealogical investigation

Today a hundred years ago, George Herbert, fifth Earl of Carnarvon, died, about five months after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, which he funded. Herbert was also, of course, the surname of the Earls of Huntingdon/ Pembroke, who included Richard III’s son-in-law William. The earlier of these families dates from the fifteenth century,…

Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered one hundred years ago today….

  The Pharaoh Tutankhamun seems to have been part of our lives forever, so it’s hard to believe that his tomb was found just hundred years ago on 4th November 1922. Even the discoverer, Howard Carter, had no idea what lay within the tomb, only that it didn’t seem to have been got at by…

Richard III WASN’T buried under a car park….!

A list of ten facts that were taught at school but are no longer true has been published at this site.  It’s a very interesting list with some things that I really didn’t know about, but at number 8 is the following:- “[Untrue fact} NO-ONE KNOWS WHERE RICHARD III’S BODY IS. “Correction: He was buried…

Well, I had no idea the Ancient Egyptians were so ahead of their time….!

Well, the above reconstruction of Tutankhamun is a revelation, not only that he was so unlike his wonderful funeral mask, but also because….oh dear, you couldn’t make it up. Here’s an extract from this article :- “….What King Tut Really Looked Like….They conducted DNA studies and found out how frail the pharaoh was. He was…

Britain’s top burial sites?

This Sun article, which originally confused Richard’s Leicester with Henry I’s Reading, lists what they consider to be Britain’s top burial sites, although there is no detail on the supposed “Princes” in that urn, especially now that there is evidence to test the remains. Are there any others you might have included?

The Prince of Aldi–the Prittlewell Saxon Tomb

In 2003, a Saxon burial in an intact burial chamber was unearthed between an Aldi shop  and a pub in Southend. Clearly an important person, almost certainly royalty, the items in the grave  make it the earliest Christian royal burial in England. Now, 16 years on, with conservation and studies complete, many of the items…

The Art of Frances Quinn

For over five hundred years, Richard the Third has been the subject of much good and bad art.  Perhaps the most famous image is the National Portrait Gallery portrait which hangs in a prominent spot (after years of being shunted into a busy stairwell at the entryway) and has for many years intrigued casual visitors…

Another case of monarchical remains and their DNA

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/21/world/king-tut-visual-autopsy/index.html This time it is Tutankhamun (no doorbell jokes, thankyou) nearly three millennia earlier. The “virtual autopsy” shows him to have had a clubfoot and he owned about a hundred walking sticks as a consequence, strangely held in the wrong hand. DNA evidence appears to show his parents (Akhenaten and the “Younger Lady) to be…