And What Then?

It is reported that American bioarchaeologists are going to ask for royal approval to exhume the body of King Henry VIII in an attempt to prove that a rare disease caused his ferocious temper.

It seems that ‘Kell-positive’ blood coupled with McLeod’s Syndrome in later life causes muscle weakness and even schizophrenic behaviour and may explain why a much-loved prince became a murderous tyrant king.

King Henry VIII is buried in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle after he died in January 1547 at the age of 55. After a jousting accident in 1536 he became susceptible to an ulcerated leg injury, boils, violent mood swings and possibly untreated Type II diabetes.

Whether or not the researchers obtain royal approval for an exhumation of King Henry’s hair and bone DNA samples remains to be seen, though one feels it is unlikely the Queen will grant the request.

But what will it prove? That there is just another cause to the king’s behaviour? And if DNA samples prove that Kell-positive blood and McLeod’s Syndrome are involved in the case of Henry VIII? What then?

Will researchers be wanting to dig up every bad-tempered individual from the past to test them as well?

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