The New Murrey and Blue blog

DNA is a wondrous thing, and these days we can’t imagine being without it. For example it has transformed the work of the police almost beyond recognition. It also solved the question of whether or not the remains found in Leicester Greyfriars were those of Richard III. Which they were. Now it has disproved the claim (from 200 years ago) of a man who said he was a prince. Both cases involved the excellent Dr Turi King, now at Bath University.

The mystery man in question was Kasper Hauser “….whose identity became one of the most mysterious riddles in German history….” In many ways his case was like that of Perkin Warbeck here in England some centuries earlier.

Even a short while ago, when DNA was in its infancy, it wouldn’t have been possible to deduce anything from Hauser’s remaining samples, but leaps and bounds in the science have made it possible now to “read” even short lengths of DNA. That is how Dr Turi King could show that Hauser wasn’t the lost son of the Grand Duke Carl of Baden.

What she couldn’t tell, of course, is who he really was. They can’t with Perkin Warbeck either, but then we don’t have his DNA.

Kaspar’s story (and exposure as an imposter) is now to be found all over the internet, but here is one link to be going on with https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/new-dna-analysis-helps-bust-200-year-old-royal-conspiracy-theory/.