OPENING ROYAL TOMBS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17769, 22 May 1923, Page 13

OPENING ROYAL TOMBS.

■ ' ♦ ——. The Pharaohs are not the only monarehs whose tombs have been opened says Bassett Digby, F.R.C.S., in. the "London Evening News"). Nearly 200 years ago archaeologists broke open the tomb of King Edward I. in Westminster Abbey, and ' measured "Longshanks,". as the history books tell us he was nicknamed. He was found to justify the name, for his height was 6ft 2in. He wore a gilt crown, and a gilt sceptre rested in each of his hands. The robe in which he was buried -was studded with pearls. In the presence of the Prince Regent (later George IV.) the coffiin of the beheaded Charles 1., discoverd in a vault at Windsor, was opened in 1813 by Sir Henry Halford, a famous doctor of the day. The presence of the severed head, with its pointed beard, proved the identity of its ill-rfated occupant. Edward the Confessor has been far more "investigated" than Tutankhamen, for his tomb in Westminster has been broken open no fewer than three times. The only Royal tomb in Europe in which a dead monarch has been found seated on his throne was that of the Emperor Charlemagne, at Aix-la-Chapelle. Frederick Barbarossa had it opened. It was a wonderful sight. The marble .throne is, or was until recently, still on view at Aix. Charlemagne was dressed in his imperial robes, a sword hung by his side, and on his knees rested a Bible.