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The late Joy Ibsen, BA’52, was instrumental in identifying the remains of King Richard III.

The mysterious skeleton was discovered under a parking lot in Leicester, U.K. A researcher who’d been piecing together Richard III’s genealogy contacted Ibsen, who resided in London, Ont., in 2004, suggesting she may be related to the king’s sister.

Ultimately, it was DNA carried by one of Ibsen’s children that allowed researchers to confirm that the remains were, in fact, royal, and belonged to the notorious former king of England, who died in 1485.

Ibsen herself died in 2008, at the age of 82. “She would have been very excited” by the discovery, Norm Ibsen, her husband of 52 years, told the London Free Press. “She was a monarchist.”

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