Leicester is the tenth largest city in the UK with a population of more than half a million in the wider urban area. It is the principal city of the East Midlands region and lies to the northwest of London a distance of about 160 km along the M1 motorway or 70 km east of Birmingham along the M6 and M69.

The campus of the University of Leicester is located south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park. The university is one of the leading research universities of the U.K. and enrolls over 15,000 students.


Leicester and the University have been in the news for the astonishing discovery of the remains of King Richard III, the last English king to die in battle and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth field on 22 August 1485 which effectively ended the War of the Roses with victory for the House of Lancaster over the House of York. The victor was Henry Tudor, subsequently crowned Henry VII. Richard was immortalized by Shakespeare in his history of the same name, who described him as 'bunchbacked' and attributed to him the murder of the young princes in the Tower. His opening and closing lines are famous -'Now is the winter of our discontent...' and 'A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!' His battle-scarred remains were excavated from the Priory of Grey Friars Church in Leicester. For more information, see

http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/

Latest - Richard III was interred at Leicester Cathedral on March 26, 2015 in a ceremony presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. See the New York Times article at

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/world/europe/king-richard-iii-burial-leicester.html?_r=0