Face of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Recreated From Death Mask

News August 21, 2023

(University of Dundee)
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Bonnie Prince Charlie
(University of Dundee)

DUNDEE, SCOTLAND—BBC News reports that some 500 photographs of copies of a death mask have been used by a team from the University of Dundee’s Center for Anatomy and Human Identification to create a model of the face of Charles Edward Stuart, who was also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. The prince, who was the exiled claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland after his father’s death in 1766, died in Rome in 1788 after a stroke. The researchers used software to “de-age” the resulting image and show how he may have appeared at the age of 24, at the time of the Jacobite rising—the unsuccessful attempt to restore his father to the British throne in 1745. “Hopefully this recreation encourages people to think about him as a person, instead of just a legend,” said team leader Barbora Vesela. The image shows the young prince with blond ringlets, blotchy patches on his skin, and wearing a white shirt. To read about the discovery of an infamous English monarch's burial, go to "The Grave of Richard III," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of the Decade.

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