Scientists have established that William Shakespeare got it wrong when he described Richard III as a 'foul bunch-back'd toad', 'deformed and unfinished'.
A painting of Richard III by an unknown artist at London's National Portrait Gallery. Photo: AFP
A study of the Plantagenet king's remains found buried under a carpark in Leicester in 2012 show he wasn't a hunchback but suffered from scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine.
A team from the University of Cambridge says the skull also showed it had been cleaved, Reuters reports.
Researchers who created a plastic 3-D model of the king's spine based on scans of the bones provided the first complete account of Richard's condition in a study published in the Lancet medical journal.
"Shakespeare was right that he did have a spinal deformity. He was wrong with the kind of deformity that he had. He wasn't a hunchback," University of Cambridge biological anthropologist Piers Mitchell said.
"Shakespeare also said that he had a withered arm and a limp. But looking at the bones, everything is very symmetrical. There are no signs of a withered arm. And both legs are perfectly well formed. There is no sign of him having a limp."
Richard was killed aged 32 as he fought to keep his crown at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. His death ended the Plantagenet dynasty and ushered in the Tudors under Henry VII.
The skeleton of Richard III showing a curve in the spine. Photo: AFP / University of Leicester