It really doesn’t feel like it was 10 years ago when, on a chilly March morning, we were standing outside the Fielding Johnson Building at the University of Leicester watching a 21st-century hearse depart campus bearing the mortal remains of a medieval king of England.

That short, solemn ceremony on 22 March 2015 marked a significant change in the University of Leicester’s association with King Richard III. For the past 31 months we had been the guardian of his mortal remains as ULAS led a multi-disciplinary archaeological, scientific, forensic and genealogical investigation to confirm that the skeleton we had found beneath a Leicester city-centre car park in 2012 was indeed that of England’s last medieval king. Now, it was time to relinquish our care and formally start a week of events across Leicester and Leicestershire which would commemorate the king’s life, death and reburial with dignity and honour, culminating in his reinterment at Leicester Cathedral.

These events were witnessed by millions globally and by tens of thousands in person in the City and around the County, including many current and former ULAS staff. Some of us, involved in the project, were central to events, others were bystanders wanting to watch a piece of history in the making; some of us were students at the University just starting to study archaeology, and others were still in school and remember watching it on TV!

For Richard Buckley, then co-director of ULAS (now retired) and the lead archaeologist for the search for Richard III, it was the start of a very long day!

“During the week of events leading up to the reinterment of Richard III,  Sunday 22 March 2015 was for me, particularly memorable. This day marked the formal handover of the king’s remains to the care of the Cathedral in preparation for reburial.  After a short ceremony at the University,  I accompanied the Bishop of Leicester in a car following the hearse on it journey to Fenn Lane Farm where Richard III is believed to have fallen at the Battle of Bosworth.  After that, we drove to the Battlefield Centre via Dadlington and Sutton Cheney, with short ceremonies at each, and then back to Leicester.

Nothing prepared me for the large crowds lining the route through the villages, with people throwing white roses on to the roof of the hearse.   In Leicester itself,  the scene on our arrival at West Bridge was especially poignant, with a huge turnout of onlookers including many children holding home-made heraldic shields.   The king’s coffin was then loaded on to a horse-drawn gun carriage which we then followed on foot through the city centre to the Cathedral where I formally transferred responsibility for the remains to the Dean, David Monteith.

In so many ways, the whole process was rather surreal, but seeing the crowds of people watching made me feel very proud indeed of our City and of what we had achieved.    Over the days that followed, there were many other memorable services at the cathedral, but again, what I found especially moving was the level of public interest and support and the fact we had been able to share the excitement of discovery with so many people.”

Mathew Morris, project officer at ULAS and the Richard III excavation director had a more relaxed day, mostly as a bystander:

“It was a delight to be able to enjoy the conclusion of the project without any last responsibilities! My final act was a week earlier, when Jo Appleby and I placed Richard III’s remains in his coffin. A fitting symmetry, with the archaeologists who excavated the remains also being the last to see them before the reinterment. Now it was press interviews, ‘celebrity’ appearances and the privilege of being able to watch in-person the making of the next chapter of Richard III’s story.”

Isobel Johnson-Moss, then a 1st Year archaeology student at Leicester and now an archaeologist at ULAS, remembers waking up that Sunday morning after a night of clubbing with her athletics team and catching the bus from Oadby with her friend Amy to go to campus:

“We made it there and found a pretty good place to stand. Whilst we were there we were handed an event guide which I’ve still got, right alongside an empty packet of Salt and Victory crisps*, in a scrapbook of my time at university. At the time, I do not feel I fully appreciated the privilege I had as a student in Leicester – although I did receive a number of messages from my sister jealous that I was there and witnessing this historic event. However, as these ten years have passed, my appreciation for Richard III and his reign, his life and death has only grown. Learning from and then working alongside some of the amazing team of professionals instrumental in his excavation and identification has been one of the best experiences about my time studying and now working in Leicester. It’s great to say that I was part of such a historic event that is now a part of Leicester’s history.”

* Walker’s special edition crisps celebrating Leicester City winning the Premier League in 2015.

William Johnson-Moss, a Finds Supervisor at ULAS, was also a student then. He remembers:

“I was a first year archaeology student at the University at the time of Richard III’s reburial. On 22nd March, I was involved an initiative to organise churches along the procession route and nearby to ring their bells as Richard progressed. I rang in a quarter peal, 46 minutes of continuous ringing, at St Peter’s, Oadby as part of a band made up of University staff and students to commemorate the University’s role in his rediscovery. The bells were half muffled which is traditional for solemn occasions and times of remembrance.”

The following week (23-27th March), as Richard III lay in repose at Leicester Cathedral, was a whirlwind of events. Leon Hunt, senior site supervisor at ULAS and the Richard III dig supervisor, remembers the day of the reburial (26th March).

“I turned up for the reburial on a dank drizzly day. I had worn a hat so that my friends watching the TV coverage would be able to spot me in the procession to the Cathedral, but at the Guildhall I meet a nice fella with a similar look! Cunning plan foiled, we looked like the bearded Blues Brothers!”

Mathew also remembers that week:

“There are so many incredible memories. Standing in the crowd in Leicester with colleagues watching the coffin go past, with the dawning realisation that video clips of the dig kept appearing on the big screen in Jubilee Square and the crowd knew who we were; and being recognised in the pub later that week was also memorable, and beneficial! Talking to people who had travelled from all around the world to be in Leicester, who had queued for hours to pay their respects to Richard III when he lay in repose, and hearing their passionate stories about why they wanted to be there. Walking through the streets of Leicester in procession to the Cathedral on the day of the reinterment, trying not to walk too fast, or too slow, or fall flat on my face in front of millions on live TV. Finally, the reveal of the tomb and the carnival atmosphere of the concluding fire festival and fireworks. So much went on that week! It was exhausting, exhilarating and truly felt like history in the making; and for someone who wasn’t born and raised Leicester, proud to be part of my adopted city’s story.”

Ten years on, we all still feel the impact of Richard III’s discovery. That once in a life time experience was life changing for many of us, and we are proud of the impact that our work has had in revitalising interest in Leicester’s past. To most, Leicester probably doesn’t feel like a 2,000-year-old city. Walk through its streets and it is difficult to imaging that we are walking in the footsteps of countless generations of Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, medieval and post-medieval Leicestrians who have all left their mark shaping the city. Yet their legacy is there to discovery in Leicester Museum, Leicester Guildhall, the Newarke Houses, the Abbey Pumping Station, the King Richard III Visitor Centre and soon, the new Heritage Centre at Leicester Cathedral and the new Jewry Wall Roman Museum; and as we stand in the Cathedral Gardens, in the heart of the historic city, and look around at the gardens, at Jubilee Square around the corner and at all the other regeneration of Leicester’s Old Town we can, truly, be proud of our heritage.

And then, of course, there is Richard III himself. He is a polarising historical figure, and whether his rediscovery and reinterment has radically altered our view of him or not is open to debate. Importantly, however, we are still talking about him today! And if rediscovering Richard III has ignited people’s interest in history, science and archaeology, that is a good thing.

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The search for Richard III was initiated by Philippa Langley and enacted by the University of Leicester in collaboration with Leicester City Council and the Richard III Society.