King Richard III given Yorkshire accent in new avatar recreating his voice

  • Video report by Michael Billington.

King Richard III has been given a Yorkshire accent after a project to bring him back to life in digital form.

An avatar of the last King of the House of York addressed an audience at the city's Theatre Royal, in his first public speech in over 500 years.

It followed a decade-long research project to establish the voice and appearance likely to bear the closest possible resemblance to the 15th century king.

The actor who voiced the avatar, Thomas Dennis, said: "We definitely agreed on there being a northern influence, because he spent a lot of his time in the north, in Yorkshire, and it was very special to him, so we really have tried to give it a little bit of that flavour.

"It's not completely northern and it's not a northern sound necessarily but is has influences that you should be able to hear in it because it's likely he would've had that sound."

Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32.

His remains were found under a council car park in Leicester in 2012.

Richard III's remains were found in 2012. Credit: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

They were used to create a 3D digital model of his head based on the evidence from his skull.

Prof Caroline Wilkinson, a facial identification expert, said: "We are pretty confident in what he looked like and in what he wore and how he wore his hair because of the paintings."

Medieval speech patterns were then analysed to recreate his voice.

Historian Phillipa Langley said part of the process involved attempting to determine his "character and personality".

"This is really important because your character and personality affects the way you speak and the tone of your voice," she said.

"That was all given to the actor so he could bring all this evidence-based material to bare for Richard's voice."

The team behind the project are hoping to present a friendlier face to the public than the murderous monster Richard III is portrayed as.

The project's lead, Yvonne Morley-Chisolm, said: "I kind of think in my opinion, from all the work I've done, you [King Richard III] were maligned. You're not such a bad guy after all.

"I feel I've learned more about the real man, a man that lived and breathed. If you could fast forward and go through time, what on earth would he think?"

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