King Richard III Had Parasitic Worms

Being a king in medieval times wasn't all feasts and entertaining beheadings. Researchers who retreived the bones of King Richard III from a beneath a parking lot in Leicester, England, found the despised monarch was probably infected by parasitic worms, up to a foot long. A study published on Wednesday reveals roundworm eggs were discovered in the soil around where his intestines would have been, which weren't found elsewhere in the grave. The worms cause symptoms like a cough and discomfort, but it probably didn't pain the well-fed monarch too much.