--- title: Richard III DNA Test Raises Questions About Claims to Throne description: DNA tests conducted on the remains of King Richard III suggest that contrary to historical records, the king had blue eyes, blonde hair and a questionable claim to the throne. canonical: https://time.com/3613929/richard-iii-dna-test/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-02T18:19:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:50.745Z article:section: History og:title: Richard III DNA Test Raises Questions About Claims to Throne og:description: DNA tests conducted on the remains of King Richard III suggest that contrary to historical records, the king had blue eyes, blonde hair and a questionable claim to the throne. og:url: https://time.com/3613929/richard-iii-dna-test/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte03c08ccbbed638f/69876bdc06f2c1d3fd3328ec/160630180.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4541 og:image:height: 2554 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-ROYALS-HISTORY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Richard III DNA Test Raises Questions About Claims to Throne twitter:description: DNA tests conducted on the remains of King Richard III suggest that contrary to historical records, the king had blue eyes, blonde hair and a questionable claim to the throne. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte03c08ccbbed638f/69876bdc06f2c1d3fd3328ec/160630180.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # DNA Test on Richard III Raises Questions About Claims to the Throne > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Dec 2, 2014 6:19 PM UTC  A painting of Britain's King Richard III by an unknown artist is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in central London on January 25, 2013. A painting of Britain's King Richard III by an unknown artist is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in central London on January 25, 2013. Leon Neal—AFP/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Dec 2, 2014 6:19 PM UTC DNA tests conducted on the remains of King Richard III [suggest](http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/world/europe/richard-iii-dna-hair-eyes/index.html) that contrary to historical records, the king had blue eyes, blond hair and a less-than-ironclad claim to the throne. Two years after the king’s remains were discovered beneath a parking lot in the English city of Leicester, geneticists have found a likely divergence between the king’s real life appearance and how he was painted after his death, CNN reports. “The genetic evidence shows he had a 96% probability of having blue eyes, and a 77% probability of having blond hair, though this can darken with age,” said University of Leicester genetic specialist Turi King. ### Finding Prince Charming: When Commoners Marry Royalty  Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Elizabeth Donaldson drive off after their engagement at Copenhagen's Amalienborg Palace on October 8, 2013. Francis Dean—Corbis  Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, embraces wife Kate Middleton during London's Olympic Games on August 2, 2012. Pascal Le Segretain—Getty Images  Charlene Wittstock, former Olympic swimmer and current wife of Prince Albert II of Monaco, smiles in a swimming pool on Feb. 10, 1997. Ruvan Boshoff—Sunday Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images  Tatiana Blatnik, Princess of Greece and Denmark, poses at the Giorgio Armani fashion show in Milan on Feb. 25, 2014. Vittorio Zunino Celotto—Getty Images  Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, arrives at the christening of her son, Odysseas Kimon, in Athens on June 18, 2005. James Whatling—UK Press/Getty Images  Maxima Zorreguieta cycles ahead of her then fiance, Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands, during a tour of Holland on Sept. 26, 2001. Raymond Rutting—Hollandse Hoogte/Corbis  Mabel Wisse Smit smiles at late husband Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau after their wedding ceremony in Delft, Netherlands on April 24, 2004. Frank van Beek—Capital Photo/Corbis  Princess Letizia of Spain waves to photographers at a seminar on Spanish language in journalism in San Millan de la Cogolla, Spain on May 28, 2014. Michael Murdock—Splash News/Corbis  Silvia Sommerlath, stands with husband King Carl Gustaf of Sweden after their marriage on June 19, 1976. Lennart Nilsson—Bettmann/Corbis The findings also raised questions about Richard III’s claimed descent from his predecessor, Edward III. Five living descendants from that royal bloodline had intriguing mismatches in their genetic markers, suggesting a mysterious break occurred somewhere along the family tree. \[[_CNN_](http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/02/world/europe/richard-iii-dna-hair-eyes/index.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3613929/richard-iii-dna-test/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3613929/richard-iii-dna-test/"},"headline":"DNA Test on Richard III Raises Questions About Claims to the Throne","datePublished":"2014-12-02T18:19:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:50.745Z","description":"DNA samples suggest he was a blue-eyed blond","url":"https://time.com/3613929/richard-iii-dna-test/","keywords":["Archaeology","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte03c08ccbbed638f/69876bdc06f2c1d3fd3328ec/160630180.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte03c08ccbbed638f/69876bdc06f2c1d3fd3328ec/160630180.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-ROYALS-HISTORY","caption":"BRITAIN-ROYALS-HISTORY","creditText":"Leon Neal—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3613929/richard-iii-dna-test/","name":"DNA Test on Richard III Raises Questions About Claims to the Throne"}}]}] ```