King Richard III did plan to be buried in York, not Leicester, a new letter unearthed in the National Archives suggests. The extraordinary letter, discovered by historian and Tory MP Chris Skidmore, provides fresh ammunition to those who believe the King was establishing a major new religious foundation at York Minister with a view to it becoming his mausoleum. It shows that Richard III wanted the 100 priests at the new foundation to use their prayers to make him ‘more acceptable to God and his saints’. A painting of King Richard III  from the 16th Century housed in the National Portrait Gallery in London
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Document suggests King was establishing a religious foundation at York
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Richard III may have had a view of it becoming his mausoleum
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Letter was unearthed by Tory MP and historian Chris Skidmore
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Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485
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His bones were then discovered under a Leicester car park in 2012
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Leicester Cathedral has won the tussle to provide the final resting place
The document, which has lain undiscovered for centuries, gives a fresh insight into Richard’s decision to establish a 100-strong college of priests at @placeholder.