The Lost King – Found

Happy birthday, King Richard III!

The 570th birthday of the King of England is a cause to celebrate and Philippa Langley, well known on our website, gave him a wonderful birthday present, a film about his difficult discovery and rescue from certain desctruction.

For a long while, I have kept silent about the upcoming film, as I have been overly busy lately. But also, because some of the reports and discussions about it just were not noteworthy – and that includes articles from some of the main newspapers. Big does not necessarily mean quality. And that also is the result of this whole discovery about King Richard III.
But other news just activated my gag reflex. The whole absurdity mirrored in a myriade of Google alerts about the discussion, if Richard III on stage now should only be played by handicapped actors, did not help me get through the plethora of nonsensical news-alerts. Whyever they are called ‘actors’ and not ‘be-ers’ must have been an error in naming the profession. Or do I have to presume now, that criminals in films now actually need to be … -Well, they might be and we just don’t know yet. Perhaps Richard Armitage could clarify that once in a while? No pressure, just right out curiosity of how such an absurd discussion could go on for so long and over so many annoying articles, that they fill my e-mail accounts to the brim ;o)

Regarding “The Lost King”, various articles show that the established institutions now feel left out and not cherished enough by this film. But seeing the struggles Philippa Langley had to overcome, to get them on board to bring in their expertise and how difficult it was to aggregate enough backing and sponsoring, to get them to work at all and not discourage her in her efforts, deserves more appreciation than just one film.

She is certainly in our hall of fame here on our website together with Dr. John Ashdown-Hill!

For a change, the following article in “History Extra” for once shows the struggles of Philippa Langley, though it only mentions a small part of the long ordeal she had to go through, to follow her mission to find King Richard III:

“Rediscovering Richard III: the story of identifying a lost king” by Mike Pitts (History Extra, 30.09.2022, Published before in “BBC History Magazine”, issue October 2022).

As a further information, I found this interview about the making of “The Lost King” with director Stephen Frears and co-star and -writer Steve Coogan:

The screening in cinemas should begin on October 7th, 2022, so keep a look out for an opportunity to watch the film in your area.

Unfortunately, I am in an area where I have no idea when and how I will be able to get hold of the film and see it for myself any time soon.

So for now, I can only wish you lots of enjoyment with the film and hope it will be easily available and accessible where you are.

Further noteworthy links:

• About an exhibition in London: New Richard III exhibition at The Wallace Collection, (Medievalists.net, 2022/09)

• Direct link to The Wallace Collection, London with the exhibition “The Lost King” (7. September 2022 – 8. Janaury 2023)