Here is the third and final road trip. The driving was awful because of pouring rain and traffic. It took much longer than the projected 1 hour and 53 minutes to get there. That said, it was totally worth it. 

I did not get to see the actual skeleton but here is a picture of how the body was discovered. As you can see the upper part of the body looks squished, as if the grave was not long enough to lay him out flat. Another theory is that the location where the body was buried, the choir of the Greyfriar's church, was a very small space that was not usually used for graves. I have also added in a blueprint for the  church. It shows the small size of the choir and also how lucky the researchers were that they stumbled upon Richard's remains in one of the three trenches they dug out. Considering the amount of building activity that went on in the past 300 or so years in Leicester it is surprising that the skeleton remained as intact as it did, with only the feet missing. I wish we could have had more time in the city or that I had scheduled a guided tour of the dig but I am happy with what I was able to accomplish in about 2 hours.  

Here I am with Richard's reconstructed head. Scientists used his skull and were able to add the complex system of muscles and skin tissue using a computer program. From the computer model artists used wax and other realistic materials to show Richard's face for what it truly was. He was only 32 at the time of his death and unlike the doctored portraits of the Tudor era Richard's reconstructed face shows him to look much healthier, younger, and almost handsome. The reconstructed face is on a nation wide tour so I was really lucky to happen to be in Leicester when it was visiting the city.