University of Leicester academics who studied the DNA and lineage of Richard III have published a new scientific paper detailing their findings. Peter Warzynski reports.
Research confirming the identity of Richard III has raised questions about his claim to the throne - as well as that of the royal line of descent of the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
University of Leicester academics yesterday revealed they are 99.999 per cent sure that the 500-year-old bones unearthed in a city centre car park in August 2012, are those of King Richard III.
In a paper published in Nature Communications, geneticist Dr Turi King and genealogist Professor Kevin Schurer explained how they used DNA and ancestry, as well as a number of other factors, to confirm the king's identity with "overwhelming" confidence.
Professor Kevin Schurer, of the University of Leicester, has studied the lineage of the Royal Family
However, while investigating the royal lineage, Prof Schurer also found at least two 'false paternity events' in the bloodline between Richard III and his present day relatives.
"Put in other words, someone was not the father of someone you might expect," said Prof Schurer.
It means that somewhere in 19 generations, between Edward III - Richard III's great great grandfather - and his present day relatives, a woman had a child by someone other than her husband.
"It's not surprising," said the academic. "Given the number of generations here there's a fairly high chance you're going to find a non-paternity event of this nature."
Prof Schurer said it was impossible to say where in history the break had taken place, but said it could mean a number of claims to the throne were in doubt – including the Plantagenets and the entire Tudor dynasty.
In the paper, Identification of the Remains of Richard III, he wrote: "One can speculate that a false paternity event at some point in this genealogy could be of key historical significance particularly if it occurred in the five generations between John of Gaunt and Richard III.
"A false paternity between Edward III and John would mean that John's son, Henry IV, and Henry's direct descendants would have had no legitimate claim to the crown.
"This would hold true, indirectly, for the entire Tudor dynasty (Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I)."
He added: "If the false paternity occurred in either of the three generations between Edward III and Richard, Duke of York – the father of Edward IV and Richard III – then neither of their claims to the crown would have been legitimate."
The genealogical hiccup could also mean that Queen Elizabeth might not have the ancestry she thought she did.
"We are not in any way suggesting that Her Majesty should not be on the throne," said Prof Schurer. "But the Tudors may not have had a bloodline to John of Gaunt, which means that kings and queens descended from Henry Tudor were not of royal blood."
The Windsor family's claim to the throne is through Henry Tudor's daughter, Margaret.
Queen Elizabeth II during her Diamond Jubilee visit to Leicester in 2012
However, Professor Schurer said the break in the line was likely to have happened after the point where it would have affected the current Royal Family.
He said: "We're talking about any one of 19 places in the chain which could have been broken.
"Only a break in five of those links would affect the current royals, so the chances are it doesn't affect them at all."
He added: "It's important to understand that the Tudors took the crown by force, they weren't the natural successors. That was Richard's cousins, the de la Poles.
"And the Queen is only Queen because her uncle abdicated. That's how monarchy works – it's all twists and turns.
"Queen Elizabeth II should be queen, because she is the queen. The question is purely academic."
A portrait of Richard III, painted years after his death, which hangs in the Society of Antiquaries, in London
Blonde haired, blue eyed Richard
Richard III would have had blonde hair and blue eyes according to research carried out by the University of Leicester.
The paper released today gives new facts about the Plantagenet king and leaves little doubt about the identity of the Grey Friars remains.
But one of the most striking revelations from the research is that Richard III would have had blue eyes and fair hair.
Dr Turi King, who led the research, said: "Almost all of the portraits of Richard that we know about were painted about 25 to 30 years after he died and show him with dark hair and dark eyes.
"But we've found that there was a 96 per cent probability that his eyes were blue and a 77 per cent chance of him having blonde hair – although this would have only been his childhood hair colour, so it could have darkened.
"But that makes the portrait of Richard in the Society of Antiquaries, in London, which shows him with much fairer features, the most accurate one we have."
Geneticist Dr Turi King (left), who led the research, and genealogist Professor Kevin Schurer (right), of the University of Leicester
Gathering the evidence and proving the identity of the king
"What we have concluded is that there is, at its most conservative, a 99.999 per cent probability that these are indeed the remains of Richard III." Dr Turi King
In February 2013, Dr Richard Buckley, who led the archaeological dig to find Richard III, announced that it was "beyond reasonable doubt" that the bones they unearthed belonged to the former monarch.
Now, after more than two years of research and analysis scientists have confidently confirmed with even more surety that they uncovered a king.
Here is how they reached that conclusion:
Osteological:
The remains found in Leicester match descriptions giving in historical texts.
Richard was known to be 32 when he died – osteological evidence suggest the skeleton belonged to someone aged between 30 and 34 at the time of death.
Richard was described as having one shoulder higher than the other – the skeleton found at the Grey Friars friary had scoliosis (bent spine).
Richard died in battle – archaeologists found numerous battle scars on the body and skull of the skeleton.
Archaeological:
Historical accounts suggest Richard was buried by the Grey Friars order in Leicester – the remains were found in the choir of the Grey Friars church.
High status – the remains were found in a grave which would have been reserved for nobility or high status burials.
Scientific:
Richard died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 (529-years-ago) - Radiocarbon dating shows that the skeleton is between 484 and 558-year-old.
Isotopic analysis – a study of the bone chemistry reveals a diet filled with expensive, high status food, such as a variety of freshwater fish as well as swan, crane, heron and egret, and drink.
The line of the Y chromosome from Richard III to his modern day relations (SOM)
DNA and genealogical evidence – Richard's DNA was traced and matched through both the male and female lines of descent.
Two types of DNA were used to trace relatives. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is only passed down by the female and the Y-chromosome which is passed through the male line.
Two people, Michael Ibsen and Wendy Duldig – who both live in London – were found using the mtDNA, and genetic analysis showed a perfect match with Richard III.
For the Y chromosome data, the academics had to use a common ancestor of both Richard III and his present day relations, so Prof Schurer had to go back in history and trace people using Richard's great great grandfather Edward III.
He found five descendants – four of which had a genetic match and one who did not – indicating a 'false paternity event'.
Distant relations of Richard III: Wendy Duldig (left) and Michael Ibsen (right)
Eliminating other candidates:
It is known that there were a number of other people on the battlefield at Bosworth who carried Richard's DNA.
With this in mind, genealogist Prof Schurer went through the painstaking process of tracing everyone who would have been linked to Richard, and who was of the same age, who would potentially have been at Bosworth
Prof Schurer said: "We eliminated pretty much everyone.
"There's one person who is unaccounted for I can't find a record of their death or burial, who would have been roughly the same age as Richard.
"He's actually somebody called Robert Eure - a distant cousin of Richard, but I think he was possibly away at the time.
"He was a Knight of St John and possibly out of the country at the time - I say possibly, it's only speculation, given that there's no record of his death in this country. But he possibly died abroad."
Dr Turi King has calculated that the probability of the remains found at Grey Friars being Richard III are at least 99.999 per cent certain
Geneticist Dr Turi King, who led the scientific research, said: "The Richard III identification project can be likened to a missing person's case and, as in any such case, you bring all of the lines of evidence together to bear on it.
"We know that Richard was killed in battle at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and he was then brought back to Leicester where he was buried in the choir of the church of the Grey Friars.
"We also know that he was aged 32 at the time of his death and that he was described during his lifetime as having one shoulder higher than the other.
"During excavation, we found the remains of a youngish male, in his early 30s.
"He has numerous battle injuries and severe scoliosis of the spine.
"We also find him in the choir of the church of the Grey Friars, in Leicester.
"We can also bring onboard the evidence from the radiocarbon dating and the positive DNA tests.
"Bringing all of these lines together we were able to calculate the statistical probability of these remains being Richard III.
"What we have concluded is that there is, at its most conservative, a 99,999 per cent probability that these are indeed the remains of Richard III.
"The evidence is overwhelming that these are the remains of Richard III."
