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The Plantagenet Alliance was a small grouping of individuals claiming to be descendants of the House of Plantagenet. The Alliance was formed in 2013 shortly after the discovery and identification of the remains of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England who died in 1485, in order to advance their views on the location of Richard's reburial. Reports of the number of members of the Alliance varied between fifteen and around forty.
In 2013 and 2014 the group campaigned to have Richard re-interred at
In September 2012, an
report and ''
referred to the group feeling "an almost supernatural bond" with Richard and Charles Brunner called it an "ancestral memory". Vanessa Roe stated in 2013:
The Plantagenet Alliance was a small grouping of individuals claiming to be descendants of the House of Plantagenet. The Alliance was formed in 2013 shortly after the discovery and identification of the remains of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England who died in 1485, in order to advance their views on the location of Richard's reburial. Reports of the number of members of the Alliance varied between fifteen and around forty.
In 2013 and 2014 the group campaigned to have Richard re-interred at York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
, believing that, as his collateral descendants, they knew his wishes. They referred to themselves as "his Majesty's representatives and voice". However, historians disputed that there was any evidence that Richard III wanted to be buried in York. The Plantagenet Alliance’s standing to represent Richard was also challenged on the basis that he would have had many millions of other living collateral descendants whose views were not necessarily represented by the Alliance.
The Alliance’s activities included initiating a judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...
of decisions taken by the Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
relating to the proposed re-interment in Leicester. The Alliance lost the judicial review in 2014 and the campaign to have Richard's remains buried in York failed. The group has not been publicly active since the loss of the court case. Richard III's remains were finally re-interred within the interior of the Leicester Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 192 ...
on 26 March 2015.
Background and formation
In September 2012, an archaeological dig
In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...
led by the University of Leicester
, mottoeng = So that they may have life
, established =
, type = public research university
, endowment = £20.0 million
, budget = £326 million
, chancellor = David Willetts
, vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah
, head_lab ...
resulted in the remains of Richard III, who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, being discovered underneath a Council car park in Leicester. The Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
announced in February 2013 that the University had the authority to determine the location of Richard’s reburial under the terms of the licence it had been granted to carry out the archaeological exhumation. The University of Leicester subsequently confirmed that it had always been its intention that the remains should be re-interred in Leicester Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 192 ...
.
According to a BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' journalist Joshua Rozenberg
Joshua Rufus Rozenberg KC (hon) (born 30 May 1950) is a British solicitor, legal commentator, and journalist. Early life and career
He was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith and Wadham College, University of Oxford, where he took a ...
, Stephen Nicolay, a descendant of Richard III's sister, founded the Plantagenet Alliance shortly after confirmation, in February 2013, that it had been Richard's remains that had been discovered the previous year. According to the BBC report and Rozenberg, Nicolay formed the group with other "collateral on-directdescendants" with the aim of having Richard buried at York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
. However, Vanessa Roe, another member of the group, told ''Prospect Magazine
''Prospect'' is a monthly British general-interest magazine, specialising in politics, economics and current affairs. Topics covered include British and other European, and US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, the medi ...
'', in an interview, that the Plantagenet Alliance came about as a result of her contacting York City Council
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
after she had seen a Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
documentary about the exhumation and identification of Richard III's remains. The Council had put her in touch with others who claimed to be related to Richard.
Name and composition
The Alliance is a group of individuals who believe they are descendants of relatives of Richard III. Specifically they claim to be 16th, 17th and 18th great-nieces and great-nephews of Richard. The Alliance took their name from the House of Plantagenet, the medieval royal dynasty, of which Richard III was the last king. In March 2013, it was reported that they numbered fifteen, but a subsequent report, in December 2013, stated that there were "around forty" in the Alliance. The full group has never met in person. Prominent members include Stephen Nicolay, Vanessa Roe and Charles Brunner. Nicolay, a self-employed gardener, is a 16th great-nephew of Richard through his sister, Anne of York. He was unaware of his relationship to Richard until late 2011 and he received confirmation that he was a 16th great-nephew in early 2012. Vanessa Roe, who runs a small farm near York and works with young people with disabilities, is a 16th great-niece of Richard III. She is descended from Richard's brother, George, Duke of Clarence and has said that she has always been aware of her Plantagenet ancestry. Roe has been described as the "group's spokesperson". Charles Brunner is an American and owns a night-club inKansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
. He is a 17th great-nephew of the king, and a descendant of Richard's sister, Anne of York. He has been described as "one of the leaders" of the Alliance.
Views
In February 2013, the Plantagenet Alliance issued a statement declaring its views on the burial place of Richard III:The Plantagenet Alliance does hereby most respectfully demand that the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England and our mutual, collateral ancestor, be returned to the City of York for ceremonial reburial. We believe that such an interment was the desire of King Richard in life and we have written this statement so that his inferred wishes may be fully recognised.The group claims to speak on behalf of Richard III and to know his wishes by virtue of their claimed family connection. It described itself as "his Majesty's representatives and voice". The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Who do we think we are? We don't think we are anyone – we ''know'' who we are. We are the collateral on-directdescendants of Richard III, we speak on behalf of him, the only people who can speak on behalf of him…we decided he needed someone to fight for him…Many of us have grown up knowing about Richard, we know what he wanted.The group claimed it was Richard's "wish" to be buried in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and called for his re-interment to take place within York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
. In support of their belief, the alliance pointed to his connections with Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
: he grew up in the county, was known as "Richard of York" prior to becoming king and visited York often during his reign.
Campaign
e-Petition
The Alliance launched a UK Government online "e-Petition" in 2013 in support of their call to have Richard re-buried in York. e-Petitions that receive at least 100,000 signatures become eligible to have their proposal debated inParliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
. However, when the Alliance petition closed on 24 September 2013 it failed to achieve the necessary target, having received only 31,276 signatures.
Litigation
In 2013, the Plantagenet Alliance commencedjudicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...
proceedings, complaining that they had not been consulted on Richard's place of burial thereby violating their human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
, and which resulted in a court hearing in May 2014. In March 2013, Matthew Howarth of the Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
firm of solicitors
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
, Gordons, announced that he had written to the Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Plantagenet Alliance claiming that the Ministry had breached Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...
in the terms of the archaeological exhumation licence it had issued to the University of Leicester. Article 8 includes the right to respect for family life, and is considered to be one of the Convention's most open-ended provisions. The Alliance's claim was specifically that their human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
had been breached because they had not been consulted on the place of reburial. The licence specified that re-interment was to be in Leicester, and they claimed the failure to consult them, as Richard's relatives, violated their Article 8 rights.
Chris Grayling
Christopher Stephen Grayling (born 1 April 1962) is a British Conservative Party politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Transport from 2016 to 2019. He has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom and Ewell since 2001. ...
, the Secretary of State for Justice
The secretary of state for justice, also referred to as the justice secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Ministry of Justice. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the Un ...
at the time, rejected the claim and the Alliance therefore commenced proceedings for judicial review of the Ministry of Justice's decision not to consult on the terms of the licence. The litigation was undertaken by the Alliance's solicitors, Gordons, and by their counsel, Gerard Clarke and Tom Cleaver of Blackstone Chambers
Blackstone Chambers is a set of barristers' chambers in the Temple district of central London. Established in the 1950s, as of 2022 it had 119 tenants, of whom more than 50 are silks.
Current notable members include Robert Anderson, Michael Be ...
, on a contingency fee A contingent fee (also known as a contingency fee in the United States or a conditional fee in England and Wales) is any fee for services provided where the fee is payable only if there is a favourable result. Although such a fee may be used in many ...
basis that is, they would only have their fees paid if they win and the court consequently orders that the other side has to pay their legal costs
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
. The proceedings were brought by a company called Plantagenet Alliance Limited, owned and controlled solely by Stephen Nicolay, and which ''The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' subsequently described as "a 'front' company...with no assets, to avoid being hit with legal costs."
At a preliminary hearing in August 2013 the court gave permission to the Alliance to proceed with the judicial review and granted them a full "protective costs order". The protective costs order meant that the Alliance would not have to pay the Ministry's legal costs even if the Alliance lost the case. The judge explained that such orders were granted in judicial review cases where it was in the public interest for the courts to hear the case and it might "otherwise be stifled for lack of financial means".
In May 2014 the case was heard by three High Court judges who ruled in favour of the Ministry of Justice. The judges said there was no "legitimate expectation" that Richard's "collateral descendants would be consulted after centuries in relation to an exhumed historical figure". They also concluded that any consultation was "not capable of sensible limit" since Richard's collateral descendants could number millions of people.
After the decision, Vanessa Roe said that the judgment meant there was "no justice" for Richard III. Chris Grayling, on the other hand, criticised the Plantagenet Alliance for bringing the case, saying that it was "a group with tenuous claims to being relatives of Richard III" and that he was "frustrated and angry" that they had "taken up so much time and public money." He added that:
This nonsensical case is a perfect example of how the system of judicial review is being misused – and at ridiculous expense to taxpayers. Judicial review is, and must remain, an important way to hold authorities to account but we have to do something to stop challenges like this exploiting the system.The legal costs of the Ministry of Justice and
Leicester City Council
Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...
, which was also a party to the case, amounted to £175,000. Together with the expense of a three-day court hearing the total likely cost to the British taxpayer has been estimated to be in excess of £200,000.
Other reactions
In response to the Alliance's claims, historians said that there was no evidence that Richard III wanted to be buried in York. Mark Ormrod of the University of York expressed scepticism over the idea that Richard had devised any clear plans for his own burial. The standing of the Plantagenet Alliance was also challenged. MathematicianRob Eastaway
Rob Eastaway is an English author. He is active in the popularisation of mathematics and was awarded the Zeeman medal in 2017 for excellence in the promotion of maths. He is best known for his books, including the bestselling ''Why Do Buses Come ...
calculated that Richard III may have millions of living collateral descendants, saying that "we should all have the chance to vote on Leicester versus York".
Although the Alliance lost their judicial review case, the High Court ruling is cited as authority in administrative law
Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), ad ...
for when there is or is not a legal duty to consult those affected by administrative governmental decisions.
Re-interment in Leicester
Plans for the reburial had been "on hold" while the outcome of the court case was awaited. TheDean of Leicester
The Dean of Leicester is the head (''primus inter pares'' – first among equals) and chair of the chapter of canons, the ruling body of Leicester Cathedral. The dean and chapter are based at the ''Cathedral Church of Saint Martin'' in Leicester. ...
had called the Plantagenet Alliance's challenge "disrespectful", and said that the Cathedral would not be investing funding in the re-interment project until the matter was resolved. Once the High Court decision rejecting the Alliance's claim was issued in May 2014, Tim Stevens
Timothy John Stevens, (born 31 December 1946) is a retired British Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Dunwich from 1995 to 1999 and was Bishop of Leicester from 1999 to 2015. From 2003 to 2015, he was a member of the House of Lords as a Lord ...
, the then Bishop of Leicester
The Bishop of Leicester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Leicester in the Province of Canterbury.
Through reorganisation within the Church of England, the Diocese of Leicester was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's Church ...
, announced that the re-interment would proceed at Leicester Cathedral the following spring. The re-interment took place on 26 March 2015.
Notes
References
External links
The Queen (on the application of Plantagenet Alliance) -v- Secretary of State for Justice and Others
text of judgment (Courts & Tribunals Judiciary) {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 History organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in England Richard III of England House of Plantagenet Family associations Organizations established in 2013 2013 establishments in England