THE remains of Richard III should be brought to York to allow the city’s residents to “pay homage” before he is given a state funeral, an international educational body which bears the king’s name has said.

The Richard III Foundation, Inc, which is dedicated to studying the life and times of England’s last Yorkist king, welcomed the announcement that the monarch – whose remains were discovered during an archaeological dig in a Leicester car park – will be buried in a £1 million tomb in Leicester Cathedral, following a row between the Midlands city and York over where they should be reinterred.

But the foundation said it believed the burial arrangements were being made with “unseemly haste” and “a lack of respect”, saying Richard should have a state funeral and should lie in state in York ahead of the service. JoeAnn Ricca, its founder and director, said: “We are extremely concerned the arrangements for the reinterment of our king are being made in something of a rush simply in order to provide Leicester with a tourist attraction.

“This should not be about tourism, economics or politics, it should be about doing the right thing.”