Benedict Cumberbatch and Poetry

Since I have been back, I have been thinking a lot about the Reinterment. Of course, I've been thinking about it! How could I not? And I have been happy to talk to people about it. After all, I helped bury a King of England! That doesn't happen every day.

But guess what always comes up again, time after time? You probably guessed it. Benedict.

I talked a little bit before in an earlier post about Benedict's participation in the Reinterment and my impressions of how the press was handling that coverage. It was quite disappointing.

I'm not saying that I don't admire Benedict Cumberbatch as an actor. I think he is rather endearing. I am happy that he was invited to the ceremony. He had good reason to be there as a cousin (Richard's and mine, too, if you think about it), and he helped add interest and publicity both for the event, Richard III, and Leicester. It was a bit tacky to put his acting role as Richard in the upcoming television program "Hollow Crown" and the rather distant cousinly relationship in the Order of Service, but perhaps this was an attempt by the organisers to justify his presence for some reason.

Benedict Cumberbatch reading "Richard" 

by Carol Ann Duffy

But we were all of us participants in this great event: Benedict Cumberbatch; Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury; Tim Stevens, the Bishop of Leicester; David Monteith, the Dean of Leicester; the Choir; the Bearer Party; the archaeological team; and every member of the congregation who were there praying, singing, and witnessing. Benedict was really not any more important than any other of us at the event, except for King Richard himself, that is.

Richard was the true focus as we celebrated and pondered his life, death, and future in heaven. All of us inside the Cathedral were brought there to think about the lost King who was found, which we were doing reverently and respectfully. I will never forget the ceremony as being one of the most thought-provoking and also rather miraculous occurrences of my life.

But with that said, I can tell you the answers to the questions you are burning and yearning to know. Yes, I saw Benedict Cumberbatch in person. I was actually in the same room with him! I saw him enter the Cathedral, although he didn't walk past me, unlike some other dignitaries and nobility did. I saw him go up to the reader's stand and recite his poem. His back was turned to me at that point. I even saw the chair in which he sat! It had a sign on it that read "B. Cumberbatch." The little school boy who sat next to him during the Reinterment (grrrr!) was allowed to take that relic home with him (double grrrr!).

I was about 20 to 25 yards away from Benedict Cumberbatch when he read the poem. Okay, you can touch me. The magic might rub off on you, too.

Now that you got that out of your system, let's talk about the poem Benedict read so well. The Poem, written by Carol Ann Duffy, the poet laureate of England since 2009, is entitled "Richard." This poem, told from the point of view of the long-dead King Richard, reflects on what has happened to him and his hopes for how we should treat him now, in his future and our own, to keep his name and memory from being lost again.

Naturally, it is a very religious poem, full of imagery familiar to Christians, including words such as soul, incense, votive, relics, cross, resurrection, and prayer. Also there are words to invoke the picture of Richard as the mortal body found in the ground after 530 years: bones, cold soil, skull, scarred, broken.

I especially like the line "My skull, scarred by a crown, emptied of history."

We will always think of that skull found in the ground, with its extensive damage caused by brutal medieval war weapons, as being scarred in the battle that killed Richard. This poetic image, shifting the scarring from those weapons to the actual crown that became the eventual cause of his death due to another man's lust for it, is rather jolting. And that skull is a shell now, not just empty of brains, blood, and the other physical necessities of life, but of memory and all history of himself.

I wonder if the King, the last to die in battle, would have thought of his salvation at the end of time, wondering if people would still think of him, speak of him, pray for him in the future. None of us likes to think that we will be forgotten, that we have made no lasting impression of good on this earth before we leave it. Since we know Richard to have been a religious man, I hope he was able to find some peace in his last thoughts before death came to him. 

I think Richard would have felt honour and gratitude to be remembered by so many over half a millenium later. That famous men, such as Benedict Cumberbatch, and ordinary women, such as myself, would feel pride to claim kinship with him and be moved to congregate in his memory. This alone gives King Richard III a very special place in our human history.

I Cried on BBC Radio Leicester

It's true. I actually started to cry for the reporter from BBC Radio Leicester who interviewed me after the Reinterment. It was quite embarrassing. But what can she expect, asking people coming out of the Cathedral, "What was the most moving part of the ceremony for you?" If only she had given me a couple of hours....

I arrived in good time to the Cathedral. I didn't know how they were going to assign seats, but I assumed it would be arrival time somewhat. So at the entrance to the little alley near where I needed to go, there was a checkpoint. I presented to the security guard my Admittance Card and my passport. He let me in.


Then I entered the Leicester Cathedral for the first time. It was immense, dim, and there were people and cameras everywhere. I was guided to a seat. At first I didn't think it was a good seat. It was on the front row of a section but in front of a pillar and a giant floral arrangement. I could just see part of the pall on Richard's coffin, the back of the reader's stand, and a bit of the altar area. There was no way to see into the new tomb area off to my right, which was enclosed into a little side chapel area.

I'm actually in this picture that was published in the Leicester Mercury. You can see my hat, sort of!

I'm on the far right end of this row, third in from the right.

Then we sat. And sat. And sat.

It was okay to sit for awhile and watch people. I was looking at hats, and people, and camera crew, and wondering how will I see much of anything with all this plant life in front of me. I talked with the lady next to me. She was a local lady from Bosworth. She told me that she was glad to be sitting by someone from far away. Lovely lady.

Then something magical happened. People started carrying things past us. Official looking people. And what did they have, you might ask? My goodness, that looks like the actual Book of Hours, Richard's very own that will be part of the ceremony! And wait, what do those people have? The crown, the specially made crown for King Richard himself went whizzing by me, not more than 2 feet away. I could have touched it! But then I might have had my hands cut off or something, so of course, I didn't try that.

Pretty soon, some other official people came and moved the big floral arrangement and told us that someone in the procession would be passing by with a wheelchair, so we should be on the alert. What's this? The procession? We are on the procession now! My seat got even better!

Unfortunately, we didn't have the Countess or Benedict Cumberbatch process by us, but we did have a bunch of nobility related to War of the Roses participants go by. That was rather interesting.

And then the ceremony began. I gave you a link to the order of the service. They followed it quite strictly. There were a few speeches, and probably the best one was by the Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stephens.

The first hymn really got to me. It was a hymn collected by Ralph Vaughn Williams with words by devout Catholic, G. K. Chesterton, O God of Earth and Altar.

It was at this moment that the Bearers moved Richard's coffin to the altar area. I think that is when it truly hit me that this man we were honouring was my ancestor, dead over 500 long years, and a King of England. That was a lot to take in, especially with beautiful musical accompaniment by a well-trained choir. Out came the kleenex.

The rest of the service was equally reverent. Benedict Cumberbatch did well at his reading. I liked the poem, actually. I was intrigued that the poet had used part of a knight's epitaph for it. One thing afterwards, however, about this portion of the service, is that the press has made it out to be more than it was. Benedict was only reading for about five minutes. It was not the highlight of the service. He was there, participating not performing.

I think the most moving part for all of us was the lowering of the coffin into the grave. I could not see any of it, but of course we knew it was happening. The Countess of Wessex and the Duke of Gloucester, along with various other dignitaries, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, went up to witness it. Richard would be lost no more.

And then it ended with a beautiful arrangement of the National Anthem. I, being proud of my Canadian heritage, could sing along having learned the words long ago. 

When we were dismissed, after all of the important people had gone, the lady next to me and I crept up to have a look at the space where Richard would lie. I might not get another chance! There will be larger tomb on top, but he was underground, under a large black slab. I think people were happy with it.

And then out I came. I was alone, not in a crowd. I think that was how the BBC interviewer picked me out. I started out all right, telling her my name and what I thought of the service in general, but then she asked me for more details about the moving part of the ceremony. I hadn't had enough time to recover fully from all of it, so that's when the tears came out again. 

I hope nobody actually heard that interview, although if she wanted somebody more emotional about it instead of gushy, I guess I would have qualified.

I can't believe I helped to bury a King of England today. The experience will be one I will never forget.

Reburial of a King

Although I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the cathedral, several news media organisations were. Now the pictures and video are popping up.

Here is a compilation of photos in the Leicester Mercury. I think it captures the mood of the week well.

Also, here is a video of highlights from the ceremony in the Cathedral. I don't see me there, but you will get the feel for this tremendous occasion from it.

I think everyone there was moved by the ceremony. It will be something I won't forget.

As for Benedict Cumberbatch, he did a fine job reading the Poet Laureate's poem. But I was disappointed in the American press's take on his participation. That's what it was, participation in the ceremony. It was not the performance that they were trying to make it out to be.

Here is a CNN article about Benedict's participation. You would certainly think it was the highlight of the event. It certainly wasn't for me. It was a nice poem, but the poet herself could have read it for me and I would have appreciated it just as much. I was far more moved by the realisation that I was in the room celebrating the life and death of a King, my cousin.

And sorry, friends, Benedict is newly married.

If You Weren't Jealous Yet, Now You Will Be...

The big news of the day: Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be at the Reinterment!

He is going to be reading a poem by England's Poet Laureate, Carol Anne Duffy.

Of course, this is additional exciting news. I get to see not only King Richard, The Countess of Wessex, but Sherlock himself!

Benedict is playing King Richard III in a BBC series called The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses.

Of course, it has previously been noted that he is also a cousin of King Richard, but not as closely related as myself. He is only a 3rd cousin, 16x removed. That hardly counts, really.

Now I am really getting nervous!

Here is a link to the announcement in the local Leicester paper.