A CEREMONY to mark the re-interment of Richard III next month will be held in York to give residents the chance to celebrate his links to the city.

The remains of the last Yorkist king were found under a car park in Leicester and despite a High Court battle by a group claiming he should be buried in York, nearer his ancestral home of Middleham, it was decided to create a tomb for the king in Leicester Cathedral.

Events will be held by York Minster, York Museums Trust, the University of York and City of York Council to coincide with the reburial on March 26.

A choral evensong, featuring a prayer composed for the service by the Dean of Leicester, will be held to commemorate the king at York Minster, starting at 5.15pm, followed by a procession at 6.20pm.

The procession, led by the civic party and senior clergy across the piazza, will pass along Stonegate to St Helen's Square and the Mansion House steps, where Lord Mayor of York Councillor Ian Gillies will address the procession and those expected to line the route and pay their respects.

Cllr Gillies said: "These commemorations build on work by academics, civic and faith leaders in the city and beyond, to further inform interest in the last Plantagenet monarch.

"This work and the events planned for March are bringing two great English cities closer together through their shared interest in and affection for Richard III."

The Very Reverend Dean of York Minster, Vivienne Faull, said: "On the evening of the re-interment of King Richard III it is right that the people of York and Yorkshire will have the opportunity to gather in the Minster to pray and to remember the death of the King at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485."