The long lost severed head of the king of France is identified
Scientists have identified an embalmed head as belonging to King Henri IV of France, who was assassinated in 1610 at the age of 57.
The head was lost after revolutionaries ransacked a royal chapel near Paris in 1793.
It has taken the researchers nine months to identify the late monarch's embalmed head. A lesion near his nose, a pierced ear and a healed facial wound - from a previous assassination attempt - were among the marks that helped identify the head. The results was published today in the medical journal, BMJ.
King Henri IV was one of France's favourite monarchs.
He converted to Catholicism to end France's wars of religion, declaring "Paris is worth a Mass", but was later killed by a Catholic fundamentalist.
He built the Pont Neuf bridge and the Place des Vosges in Paris. Henri was the first of the Bourbon line of monarchs, which included his grandson Louis XIV, the Sun King.
His head will now be reinterred in the Basilica of Saint Denis after a national Mass and funeral next year.
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