Richard III DNA tests reveal a possible royal sex scandal

DNA tests have confirmed that the ancient bones found under a car park in Leicester are those of Richard III – but they also point to a sex scandal in his family tree.

Genetic analysis of the last Plantagenet king and samples from five living relatives has raised questions about the legitimacy of Henry VIII and other famous English royals.

"Analysis shows that DNA passed down on the maternal side matches that of living relatives, but genetic information passed down on the male side does not," explains the BBC. "Infidelity is the most likely explanation."

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The tests show that somewhere along the male line, dating back more than 500 years, there was a least one "false paternity event" – meaning that a king may have been cheated on.

The discovery potentially undermines either Richard III's claim to the throne or that of Henry VIII and the entire Tudor dynasty, depending on which side of the family tree the infidelity occurred.

However, the BBC says scientists would not be drawn on what it might mean for the current royal family. "The breakage was statistically more likely to have occurred in the part of the family tree which does not affect royal succession – the most recent stretch – simply because more links in the chain exist there," says the BBC.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, shows that there is at least one illegitimate male in the chain of 19 generations between the 5th Duke of Beaufort, who died in 1803, and Edward III, Richard's great-great grandfather from who the male line is descended.

Historians have identified two prime suspects based on contemporary rumours: Richard Earl of Cambridge - who was Richard III's paternal grandfather - and John of Gaunt, whose ancestral line led to Henry VIII and the Tudors.

"We may have solved one historical puzzle, but in so doing, we opened up a whole new one," said Prof Kevin Schurer, the genealogy specialist on the paper.

Archaeologists excavated the Leicester car park, a long-reputed burial site of Richard III, in 2012. A forensic study of the remains showed that Richard III had a curved spine and had suffered 11 wounds at the time of his death.

Statisticians say they are 99.999 per cent certain of the identity of the remains following the DNA analysis, which also revealed that Richard III was likely to have been blue-eyed with blond hair as a child.

Edmund Tudor's son Henry VII took the throne from the House of York after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, ending the Wars of the Roses.