Mystery of Kaspar Hauser solved, leaving another enigma
11 Aug 2024
The scientist responsible for confirming the identity of Richard III’s corpse has disproved a two centuries-old claim made on behalf of Germany’s most enigmatic Royal pretender.
Kaspar Hauser was widely rumoured to have been the rightful heir to the former principality of Baden and to have been raised in complete isolation until his release from captivity. His unexplained death from a knife wound further fed the theory of his supposed royal birth.
In recent decades DNA tests were carried out on the hair and blood samples on Hauser’s surviving clothing, yet the results proved ambiguous.
But latest advances in testing have now allowed the analysis of DNA from individual hair strands rather than pooled samples, permitting analysis of much smaller fragments of ancient DNA and improving the accuracy of results
Leading the research was professor Turi King, director of the University of Bath’s Milner Centre for Evolution. An expert in the analysis of ancient DNA and genealogy, when based at the University of Leicester, King led the research that established a skeleton discovered under a city carpark was that of Richard III, buried after his defeat at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Explained King: “After death, our DNA degrades into shorter and shorter fragments until there is nothing left to sequence. The DNA analysis methods available in the 1990s and early 2000s worked well with long DNA fragments but didn’t give consistent results when they did DNA analysis of the various items from Hauser.
During the Hauser investigation, the team analysed traces of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), passed along the maternal line, to prove conclusively that Hauser’s mtDNA type did not match that of members of the House of Baden.
“I’ve worked on two cases involving potentially identifying members of a royal family: Richard III and Kaspar Hauser. One where we proved the identification of a king and one where we proved someone wasn’t a prince,” said King.
“In both cases they were mysteries that have carried on down through the centuries and I love that science can be brought to bear to answer them.”
Although one of the mysteries surrounding Kaspar Hauser has been unravelled, the puzzle as to his identity remains, said the scientist. While Hauser’s mitochondrial DNA type is identifiable as West Eurasian it cannot be narrowed down to a geographical region.
“So, he still remains an enigma in terms of his origins.”
The study has been published in iScience as a pre-proof paper. To hear Turi King discuss her team's research, see below.
