A die-hard Richard III follower has a bone to pick with Chris Grayling after he said the final place of rest for the king's remains should be decided by academics in Leicester.
Carol Fellingham-Webb, 48, grew up in Landsdowne Road, West Ewell, where her parents still live, but relocated to Keighley, Yorkshire, 20 years ago.
The archaeology graduate, who is writing a children’s book on King Richard III, The Order of the White Boar, believes the recently discovered remains of the king, who died in 1485, should be laid to rest in York - in accordance with his wishes.
His skeleton was discovered underneath a car park in Leicester in February 2012 in an archaeological dig led by the Looking for Richard project.
The reconstructed head of King Richard III
Prior to the discovery, an agreement was made between the project’s team and the University of Leicester, which provided some funding for the excavation, that if the controversial king’s remains were found, the university would decide what happened to them.
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling gave the university a license to excavate with the same conditions.
Responding to criticism of the plan that the king be re-interred at Leicester Cathedral, he said: "The decision about the burial is in accordance with the agreement made with the University of Leicester and it’s their decision. We should stick to the terms of such an agreement."
He added that, if people were unhappy about the proposals for where the remains should be buried, they should take up the matter with the University of Leicester.
But Ms Fellingham-Webb, who has been a member of The Richard III Society for 30 years, said she "absolutely disagrees" with Mr Grayling and that Leicester’s claim on the king’s bones has been driven by its desire to generate tourism.
The Richardian said: "York is the most appropriate place. He lived a great part of his life there, it was his major stronghold.
"His only connection to Leicester is he died a few miles away in Bosworth. It seems wrong to me and many people."
Carol Fellingham-Webb has been a devoted follower of King Richard III since she was a teenager
The Plantagenet Alliance, a group of Richard III's distant relatives, are taking the matter to judicial review to fight for the remains to be interred at York Minister, rather than Leicester Cathedral.
Ms Fellingham-Webb said: "A lot of people feel the Looking for Richard project had no right to give permission to the University of Leicester. His remains do not belong to anyone."
She added: "I absolutely disagree with Mr Grayling. He has underestimated the public feeling around this.
"History is written by the victors. What is said about Richard is a tissue of lies. People still follow the Thomas More and Shakespeare versions of Richard.
"Since the bones were found it's been shown that he didn't have a hunchback or a withered arm, but still, we have shoddy journalism, referring to him as the hunchbacked king."
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