Let's have our own Royal rummage...

I've been transfixed by the whole soap opera regarding the digging up of Britain's most infamous monarch, Richard the third. The idea that the sovereign, notorious for murdering his way to the throne, including the two little princes in the Tower of London, has been decomposing away for all these years underneath the tarmac of a Leicester pay-and-display car park is both grisly and fascinating, like a whodunit that's taken centuries to solve.

Even more exciting, then, is the idea that we in Berkshire have our own mystery that could similarly result in a pile of Regal bones.

Because somewhere under the ruins of Reading Abbey lie the remains of Henry I. He was a son of William the Conqueror, and while he was King, he actually founded Reading Abbey in 1121, one reason he was buried there after his death in Normandy.

Amazingly his body was brought back sewn into a bull's hide - thought to be better at preservation than pickling! The abbey of course was partly destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII but there is no firm record of what happened to Henry I's remains. I've spoken to local historians who reckon it's worth digging around for - there's a plaque marking the rough area of his grave but rumours place the exact spot under nearby St. James' School.

It surely would be worth a rummage? Whilst not such a controversial king as Richard the third, he certainly had his moments. Henry may too have murdered his way to the top job, and had so many children on both sides of the blanket, it's hard to keep count.

Tourism has had a terrific shot in the arm in Leicester, where 1,400 visitors a day flocked to the Greyfriars dig site during the fortnight it was open - and many more are anxious to set up a museum of artefacts. Perhaps we in Berkshire deserve a similar Royal boost!