Richard III’s DNA throws up infidelity surprise

Agencies

London

A genetic discovery related to King Richard III threatens to shake the foundations of the Tudor dynasty and even raises a question mark over the current Queen’s royal heritage.

Scientists are now 99.999% sure that the skeleton with a twisted spine found in a Leicester car park in 2012 is that of the last Plantagenet king.

DNA analysis has identified two female-line relatives of the king living today, but new findings show evidence of at least one break in the male line - an historic illegitimacy - which could have far-reaching consequences.

The skeleton’s male Y chromosome, only passed from father to son, did not match that of five living individuals who claim a paternal link with King Richard via their shared ancestor, Henry Somerset, the 5th Duke of Beaufort.

A relatively recent break has no royal significance. In contrast, an illegitimacy dating back several centuries to the first Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, or his son John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, would cast doubt on the succession of a whole series of monarchs including all of the Tudors.

By extension, it could also have implications for the Queen, whose ancestry can be traced back to the founder of the Tudor dynasty, King Henry VII, via James I and Mary, Queen of Scots.

But historian professor Kevin Schurer, who co-led the research team, insisted: “We are not in any way indicating that Her Majesty should not be on the throne.”

John of Gaunt had two sons, John Beaufort and the first Lancastrian king Henry IV, whose direct descendants were Henry V and Henry VI. The Tudor line stems from John Beaufort who was Henry VII’s great grandfather.

Richard III was connected to these lineages through his great grandfather Edmund, Duke of York - John of Gaunt’s brother.

Prof Schurer, pro-vice chancellor of the University of Leicester, said: “We don’t know where the break is, but if there’s one particular link that has more significance than any other, it has to be the link between Edward III and his son John of Gaunt.

“John of Gaunt was the father of Henry IV, so if John of Gaunt was not actually the child of Edward III, arguably Henry IV had no legitimate right to the throne, and therefore neither did Henry V, Henry VI, and, indirectly, the Tudors.” Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists said the claim to the crown of the “entire Tudor dynasty” partly rested on its members’ descent from John of Gaunt.