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Researchers investigating the skeleton of King Richard III have made a genetic discovery that casts doubt on the royal line of succession - right up to the present Queen.

Boffins at the University of Leicester found that there was a break in the male genetic line - an historic illegitimacy that could throw into doubt on the foundations of the entire Tudor Dynasty which the Queen is descended from.

But historian Professor Kevin Schurer, who co-led the research team, emphasised last night: “We are not in any way indicating that Her Majesty should not be on the throne.”

Scientists are now 99.999% sure that the skeleton with a twisted spine found in a Leicester car park in 2012 is the last Plantagenet king who died in battle in 1485.

Kings and queens 1312 - 1377 King Edward III 1452 - 1485 King Richard III 1491 - 1547 King Henry VII 1926 - Queen Elizabeth II

But the skeleton’s male Y chromosome, only passed from father to son, did not match that of five living individuals who claim a paternal link with King Richard.

The research team don’t know where the break took place, but say an illegitimacy dating back to the first Duke of Lancaster, John of Gaunt, or his son John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, would cast doubt on the succession of a whole series of monarchs including all of the Tudors.

Richard III was connected to these lineages through his great grandfather Edmund, Duke of York - John of Gaunt’s brother.

Prof Schurer, pro-vice chancellor of the University of Leicester, said: “We don’t know where the break is, but if there’s one particular link that has more significance than any other, it has to be the link between Edward III and his son John of Gaunt.

“John of Gaunt was the father of Henry IV, so if John of Gaunt was not actually the child of Edward III, arguably Henry IV had no legitimate right to the throne, and therefore neither did Henry V, Henry VI, and, indirectly, the Tudors.”

The Queen’s ancestry can be traced to the founder of the Tudor dynasty, King Henry VII, who was her 13th great-grandfather.

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She is related in some way to English and British monarchs right back to William the Conqueror, who was her 22nd great-grandfather.

Prof Schurer also stressed that the history of the British monarchy took “all kinds of twists and turns” and the Y chromosome discovery had no bearing on the present Queen’s right to rule.