According to an article by Joanne Impey of AFP on the website Deutsche Welle, “a team of scientists identified an embalmed head as that of King Henri IV of France, who was assassinated in 1610. . . .The head was apparently lost after a mob of revolutionaries desecrated the graves of French kings in the royal chapel of Saint-Denis near Paris in 1793.” Since then, the head had been in the hands of–get this–“secretive private collectors.” The head of the team that identified the head, forensic pathologist Philippe Charlier, found “features consistent with those of the king’s face were found including `a dark mushroom-like lesion’ near the right nostril, a healed facial stab wound and a pierced right earlobe. The color of the hair, and remains of a moustache and beard on the mummified head fit with the known appearance of the king at the time of his death. Many features matched those in portraits of the king.” Cutting wounds consistent with decapitation were also visible. Known as “Le Bon Roi Henri”, Henry promoted religious tolerance by issuing the Edict of Nantes in 1598, which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants and ended more than three decades of warfare between Protestants and Catholics. As a reward, he was murdered at the age of 57 by Catholic fanatic Francois Ravaillac, who twice slashed the king in the throat during a procession. Henri IV was also known as “the green gallant”, the article says, because of his appeal to women. Why a guy who appeals to women is called The Green Gallant is still a mystery.
