Archbishop Desmond Tutu : Wiki Commons
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is to meet key members of the Search for King Richard III when he visits the University of Leicester today.
The Emeritus Archbishop of Cape Town and honorary graduate of the University of Leicester, Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be brought up to date with all of the announcements from the Grey Friars dig.
Archbishop Tutu will have a meeting with staff in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History and the Department of Genetics before giving The Provost Derek Hole annual lecture 2012 on Public faith in a secular age.
The University of Leicester, in association with Leicester City Council and the Richard III Society, is leading the Search for Richard III. The University announced in September that it had discovered a set of articulated remains which are currently being subjected to rigorous laboratory examination.
Archbishop Tutu will hear from Professor Lin Foxhall, Head of the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History, who will give an overview of the developments so far.
Richard Buckley, lead archaeologist of the Grey Friars project and co-director of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, will speak about the Grey Friars site archaeology.
Dr Turi King from the University’s Department of Genetics will speak about the DNA analysis, and Dr Jo Appleby of the School of Archaeology and Ancient History will speak about the skeletal analysis.
Professor Foxhall said: “It is an honour to be able to present our ongoing work on the Grey Friars Project – which represents an important chapter in English History – to someone of the stature of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“It is extraordinary to have this opportunity. We would like him to see the work that we are doing, not only in researching the past but also with people in the present.”
The Search for Richard III is also the subject of a Channel 4 documentary being made by Darlow Smithson.
Archbishop Tutu’s lecture will be held on Wednesday 14 November at the Peter Williams Lecture Theatre, Fielding Johnson Building South Wing with a live video feed to the Ken Edwards Building Lecture Theatre 1. Please note that all tickets for the lecture have now been allocated.
