Salvador Dali's body to be exhumed for DNA test

Judge rules paternity test is needed to settle tarot-card reader's claims she is the surrealist artist's only child

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A Spanish court has ordered Salvador Dali's body be exhumed as part of a long-running paternity suit.

Maria Pilar Abel Martinez, 61, a tarot-card reader who was born in the surrealist artist's home town of Figueres, claims her mother had a clandestine affair with Dali in 1955, while working as a maid for his neighbours.

Dali, who was married to his muse Gala at the time, died in 1989, aged 85, supposedly childless. He left his estate, estimated to be worth around €300m, to the Spanish state.

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Martinez launched her legal action in 2015, reports the Daily Telegraph, claiming that as Dali's only child, she is heir to a share of his fortune.

She also says she has a physical similarity to the artist. "The only thing I'm missing is a moustache," Martinez said, according to The Guardian.

The judge in Madrid said he was ordering the exhumation as there were no other biological remains or personal objects of Dali which could be used for a paternity test. It is not known when the test will take place.

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