Sir Edward Garnier, MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, was part of the cross-party delegation of Leicestershire MPs who delivered the 34,000 signature petition calling on the Government to ensure that the remains of Richard III are buried in Leicester Cathedral close to where he was found by a team from Leicester University earlier this year.
The Government responded to the petition on October 22 saying “This [judicial] review touches on the question of where Richard III should be reinterred. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Sir Edward commented: “Of course the Government could say nothing more at the moment because the case is still before the High Court but at least the Prime Minister and the Government know that Leicestershire is determined that the late King’s bones should be reburied in Leicester. We must now wait until 26 November when the judicial review into the exhumation licence granted by the Ministry of Justice takes place but I have always found it strange that a small group, the Plantagenet Alliance, can claim to have a right to be consulted about his reburial when Richard lll had no descendants – his son died as a boy without issue - and in reality his siblings must now have over one million descendants including, as it happens, me. No one has ever consulted me but it really is important not to treat his bones like some game show prize. They need to be reburied as soon as possible and in as dignified a manner as possible without wasting time and money on a court case.”