Archbishop of Canterbury to be present at burial of his relative, Richard III

__.  The most senior Roman Catholic archbishop in England and Wales will take part in services marking the reburial of the remains of King Richard III.

The Diocese of Leicester said the Roman Catholic archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, will be present when the monarch is laid to rest in March, 2015.

But when the bones of the last Plantagenet king are laid to rest on March 26, 2015  the poignant and moving ceremony will have special significance for Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. For Welby is directly descended from Richard III's brother, Edward IV.

The primate descends from Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, who married Henry Tudor, Richard III's arch enemy, who was victorious at the Battle of Bosworth, who lifted Richard's bloody crown from the battlefield.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is seventeen generations in descent from Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and is an ancestral nephew of the unfortunate King Richard. 

The archbishop's royal genes have been passed down from Welby's mother, Jane, Lady Williams of Elvel. 


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