HIS remains lay undiscovered for years beneath a Leicester car park until Scots historian Phillipa Langley’s lifelong quest led to King Richard III finally receiving a royal burial.

But far from resting in peace in the serene surroundings of Leicester Cathedral, the last Plantagenet king has been plunged into an unholy dispute over the performance of a classic Shakespeare play yards from his grave.

It comes amid claims the historical tragedy defames the last king of the House of York and throws into question the cathedral’s pledge to preserve his remains with dignity and honour.

Ms Langley, an Edinburgh-based historian and screenwriter, claims that plans for two sold out performances of Shakespeare’s Richard the III beside the grave is “not an appropriate or Christian act”.

In a letter to the Cathedral’s Dean David Monteith, she calls for the performance to be moved to a different setting, arguing that allowing it to go ahead as planned “directly contravenes not only your own commitment to rebury the king with dignity and honour, but also your public acceptance to keep the remains safely, privately and decently”.

The play, which was written around 1592 at least 100 years after Richard III became the last English king to die in battle, depicts him as a villainous hunchback “rudely stamp’d”, “deformed, unfinish’d”, who cannot “strut before a wanton ambling  nymph”. It opens with the famous lines “Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York”, and goes on to weave a tale of  how a scheming Richard plotted a series of murders – including his brother Clarence – in order to claim the throne.

However historians and literary experts have debunked much of the detail in the play, arguing that it embellished earlier writings and suggesting it was a product of Tudor propaganda.

The Cathedral’s decision to stage the play led to a petition organised by the Richard III Society. They claimed it was “humiliating, disrespectful and insulting".

However in a written response to the petition, the Dean of Leicester Cathedral made clear that the play would go ahead, and suggested the dispute had helped generate ticket sales.

Now Ms Langley has delivered a blistering reply, claiming that the Dean has “apparently chosen to ignore” key elements of the debate and urging an “urgent reconsideration of the venue... so that King Richard may continue to receive he dignity and honour afforded all our fallen in battle.”

Ms Langley became fascinated with Richard III after reading a biography in the mid 1990s.

It led her to a council car park in Leicester where, in 2012 DNA results confirmed a body found under the tarmac was that of the 32 year old king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.  He was reburied at Leicester Cathedral in March 2015.

In her letter, Ms Langley says official reburial licence documents define the king’s resting place within the cathedral as a war grave.  She adds: “It is also important for you to consider whether Westminster Abbey would ever consider staging a performance of Oh What a Lovely War, for example, beside the grave of the Unknown Warrior.”

A spokesman for the Dean of Leicester Cathedral said: “The Cathedral will do everything to preserve the sanctity of King Richard’s tomb and remains, while recognising that Shakespeare’s play is part of the world’s literary heritage.

“The Dean has offered the Richard III Society the opportunity to produce an A5 sheet of every seat at tomorrow’s performance to put Shakespeare’s play in historical context.”