Richard III's DNA Exposes Infidelity in England's Royal Family Tree

DNA extracted from remains of King Richard III has raised uncomfortable questions about royalty in England, including that of Queen's ancestry.

According to BBC, the remains were found under a parking lot in Leicester in 2012 and researchers examining it have ascertained that it is indeed remains of Richard III of the House of York, who ruled two years from 1483 to 1485 before he was slain in battle. Though the king did not leave any legitimate heirs, an illegitimate son is said to be buried in England.

The research team from University of Leicester has shown that infidelity may have affected the ancestry of the royal family.

To confirm that the remains found were indeed that of Richard III's, researchers compared mitochondrial DNA obtained from living female-line relatives and compared with mitochondrial DNA found from the remains. m-DNA is passed on by the mother to child. Two relatives who were part of the study, showed a perfect match, enabling researchers to rule out any doubt.  

Researchers then examined Y chromosome passed from father to son, in Richard III's DNA, and compared it to that of five men from the extended family of Duke of Beaufort, who according to the family tree should be descendants of King Richard. They did not find a match, indicating that the five men are not descendants.

Kevin Schurer, a genealogist at the university, pointed to another significant possible disturbance in the family genealogy; John of Gaunt may not have been fathered by Edward III, as was alleged by the former's foes during his time. If this was indeed true, it would affect ancestry of royal families including Tudors, Stuarts and Windsors (Queen Elizabeth is a Windsor), The Guardian reported.

The only way researchers could determine where exactly the family line broke away would be by exhuming corpses of several royal figures, a highly unlikely proposition.

The study also overturned common notions about Richard's appearance as DNA showed he had blue eyes and blonde hair, at least during childhood.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications.