It is a remarkable story, not least because it seems to telescope our history in a way that we can hardly imagine. That’s Richard III, King of England on the left. He died near Leicester in 1485. at the Battle of Bosworth Field. On the right is Canadian Michael Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard, alive and eloquent on the discovery of his blood relative of some 17 generations ago. Ibsen calls it extraordinary and indeed it is. It was DNA provided by Ibsen, of London, Ontario, which cinched the scientific case for making the Richard identification. Ibsen was contacted after the body was found buried under a parking lot last September because his mother, now deceased, was confirmed as a direct descendant of the 15th century king. Examination of the bones reveal a slim and perhaps frail frame of a short man. People were short in those days. The body is marked by several barbaric wounds perhaps delivered after he was dead in the manner of the way things were done at the time.
