Dead Kings

I write this in the midst of ‘Diamond Jubilee Weekend’.  Whilst I’m no monarchist, it’s all integral to the story our society tells about itself and coaxed me into making some tangential local psychogeographic connections.

The celebrations are all over the media and Radio 4 Extra, contributed a re-run of the marathon ‘Vivat Rex’ series.  Originally commissioned for the Silver Jube, it’s a monumental official tribute to royal history, the dramatic aristocracy of the time, (Gielgud, Burton, etc.), and the words of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.  It reeks of deferential quality and climaxed this weekend with the oft-told account of the Tudor dynasty.  I recalled my own A-level History studies of the period.  The British strand of our course was also mostly a standard account of the ruling elite. If I’m honest, I enjoyed it immensely. 

Artist Unknown, 'Richard III'

A Dead End Indeed

Michiel Sittow (?), 'Henry VII', 1505

It so happens that many street names hereabouts commemorate the associated Battle of Bosworth and its protagonists.  Several plaques also relate the local legends of Richard III passing over Bow Bridge on his way to and from Bosworth Field and subsequent burial nearby after defeat by Henry Tudor.  A short walk with the camera was all it took to document this.

            

A Victorian plaque mounted on a singularly mundane little mid 20th century building marks the legend of Richard’s burial in the local Greyfriars monastery and subsequent disinterment for ignominious disposal in the River Soar.  A more recent sign credited to the Richard III Society explaining that story away as a 17th century fabrication also caught my eye.  They remain assiduous in their rescue of Richard’s reputation from the victor’s propaganda. 

Accounts, meanings and texts from different periods accumulate here on the margins of what is now a major arterial route through the changing modern city.  I took my photos as the traffic roared past oblivious.  The procession of multicultural pedestrians appeared equally unaffected.