In 2012, a skeleton was excavated at the presumed site of the Grey Friars friary in Leicester, the last-known resting place of King Richard III. Archaeological, osteological and radiocarbon-dating data were consistent with the theory of these being his remains.

Last month, Turi E. King et al. reported (Nature Communications 5) the same DNA sequences from both the skeletal remains and living relatives of Richard III .

They found a perfect mitochondrial DNA match between the sequences obtained from the remains and one living relative. There was a single-base substitution when compared with a second relative.

DNA-predicted hair and eye colour are consistent with Richard’s appearance in an early portrait. They calculated likelihood ratios for the non-genetic and genetic data separately, and combined, and concluded that the evidence for the remains being those of Richard III is overwhelming.