Haplogroup G-P287

Haplogroup G-P287 is linked to Richard III

The much-maligned English Monarch, King Richard III, died in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 — likely the result of a severe blow to the back of his head. Richard's body was buried in a friary church in Leicester, but the structure was demolished less than 100 years later thanks to the dissolution of the Catholic Church in England, and many thought his skeleton lost to time. But, in 2012, a team of researchers decided to launch a hunt for the monarch's remains. On the first day of excavations, archaeologists uncovered a human skeleton with signs of scoliosis and severe head wounds, which matched descriptions of the English King. To confirm his identity, scientists compared the skeleton's paternal haplogroup, haplogroup G-P287, to the Y-chromosomes of living, paternal-line descendants of Richard's great-great-grandfather, King Edward III. But, there was a mismatch, suggesting that if the skeleton did indeed belong to Richard III, there must have been at least one instance of false-paternity in the 19-plus generations separating King Edward III from his living descendants. However, the scientists also tested Richard's mitochondrial DNA, and found an exact match with a documented matrilineal descendant of Richard's sister, Anne of York. In early 2013, the University of Leicester announced that — beyond any reasonable doubt — the skeleton belonged to Richard. Richard III's paternal lineage belongs to the G-P287 (G2) branch of haplogroup G-M201 (G).