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Bust of England's King Richard III Unveiled


A bust of Britain's King Richard III was unveiled for the first time, just a day after scientists confirmed that a skeleton found under a parking lot in central England was indeed that of the British monarch.

The three-dimensional plastic model was based on the skull of the king, who was killed in battle in 1485.

Janice Aitken, who worked on the bust, says the model is not something that comes from established depictions of the king -- mainly in paintings. She says it is "something that came from the scientific process and was then styled to be contemporary with Richard III."

Scientists unearthed the remains of Richard under a parking lot last October in the city of Leicester.

On Monday, researchers confirmed that the battle-scarred skeleton was that of the king after matching its DNA to that of a sample taken from a distant living relative.

Richard III ruled England for only two years before being killed at the Battle of Bosworth by the army of Henry Tudor, who then took the throne for himself.



Historic accounts say Richard was buried in an unmarked grave in a Catholic church in Leicester, but the building was later destroyed and its location forgotten.
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