1 in 16

Yesterday I found out more information about how many people were invited to the reinterment through the ballot.

This article came out in the Leicester Mercury:

The World Comes to Leicester

This article tells me that 16 Americans are coming to the event. I wonder how many of those are not in the Richard III Society besides myself? The people interviewed were all connected to the Society.

I am 1 in 16 representing the United States. That is truly something to think about. I hope I will look okay. I am certain my behaviour will be impeccable!

The city of Leicester is getting ready for us. I hope I am ready for it!

How did I get here?

On 5 December 2014, I saw a notice on the King Richard in Leicester Facebook page about a public ballot opening for seats at the Royal reinterment ceremony, as well as two other important events being celebrated for the long-dead King.

The ballot would run from 12 to 31 December, a two and a half week window of golden opportunity.

Here is the BBC announcement of the public ballot.

There were to be 200 seats at each of the three events for the public. I was informed that "Half of the invitations offered will be allocated to entrants with a Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland postal address. The rest will go to applicants from the rest of the UK and abroad."

On the first day of the ballot, I clicked on the link and filled out the ballot form. It included a spot for my name and address.

By the end of Day 1, about 5000 people had entered the ballot. By the end of December, when it closed, over 14000 people from all over the world had entered, including applications from the United States, Canada, Australia, Africa, and Japan.

Nobody was going to pick me, I thought. It would be a long shot and I'm not really all that lucky. Am I? Maybe I am!