ABC/Rick Rowell(LEICESTER, England) — Benedict Cumberbatch portrays the late British monarch Richard the Third in a new BBC drama, and is also a distant relative, so it was fitting that he read a poem Thursday at the reinterment of the king whose remains were found underneath a parking lot 530 years after his death.
King Richard died in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field.
Cumberbatch read a 14-line poem written by Britain’s poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, during a reburial ceremony at England’s Leicester Cathedral that was attended by descendants of those who fought in the battle.
The poem, simply titled Richard, began, “My bones scripted in light upon cold soil, a human brail, my skull scarred by a crown, emptied of history” and included the phrase “grant me the carving of my name,” which refers to the fact that the King’s grave was lost for centuries, with no tombstone to mark its location.
Richard the Third was the last British king to die in battle. He was succeeded by Henry the Seventh.
Cumberbatch portrays the monarch in the BBC drama The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses. The three-part series will air on PBS, but no air date has been announced.
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