King Henry IV head identified

After nine months of tests, researchers have identified the head of France's King Henry IV, who was assassinated in 1610 aged 57.

The scientific tests helped identify the late monarch's embalmed head, which was shuffled between private collections ever since it disappeared during the French Revolution in 1793.

Henry IV was buried in the Basilica of Saint Denis near Paris, but during the frenzy of the French revolt, the royal graves were dug up and revolutionaries chopped off Henry's head, which was then snatched.

In the scientists' examinations of the monarch's head, they found features often seen in the king's portraits, including a dark lesion above his right nostril.

They also found a healed bone fracture above his upper left jaw, which matched a stab wound the king suffered during an assassination attempt in 1594.

Radiocarbon testing confirmed the head dated from the 17th-century.