RICHARD THE THIRD : DNA AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF AN ANCESTOR

Of course, this story has made International News!  Richard the Third has been identified both archaeologically, but also with DNA from present day descendants.  Richard died in 1485 and was burried after a battlefield death without ceremony.

This New York Times Article mentions that there is a Richard the Third Society.

..."The team’s leading geneticist, Turi King, said at a news conference that DNA samples from two modern-day descendants of Richard III’s family had provided a match with samples taken from the skeleton found in the priory ruins. Kevin Schurer, a historian and demographer, tracked down two living descendants of Anne of York, Richard III’s sister, one of them a London-based, Canadian-born furniture maker, Michael Ibsen, 55, and the other a second cousin of Mr. Ibsen’s who has requested anonymity.


Dr. King said tests conducted at three laboratories in England and France had found that the descendants’ mitochondrial DNA, a genetic element inherited through the maternal line of descent, matched that extracted from the parking lot skeleton. She said all three samples belonged to a type" of mitochondrial DNA that is carried by only 1 to 2 percent of the English population, a rare enough group to satisfy the project team, pending more work on the samples, that a match had been found."...

NEW YORK TIMES : Bones Under Parking Lot Belonged to Richard III by John F. Burns