Blood stains on the mysterious 83-year-old leaf on the death of the Belgian king

The blood on the leaves collected in the field 83 years ago ended the controversy surrounding the death of Belgian King Albert I in the Alps.

Albert I is one of Belgium's most famous kings. He stood out with the role of leading the country in a period against German rule during World War I, rebuilding the post-war period and the Great Depression.

Picture 1 of Blood stains on the mysterious 83-year-old leaf on the death of the Belgian king
Portrait of the king of Belgium Albert I (1875 - 1934).(Photo: Wikipedia).

In 1934, King Albert I died when climbing the Alps at the age of 58. Official investigation concluded that the king died of an accident. The reason may be that he leaned against a rock suddenly rolled out of position or fell from a height of 18 m due to falling anchor rock climbing rope at the top.

In fact King Albert was a skilled climber and did not have any witnesses at the scene giving rise to the idea that the king could be murdered somewhere else, then the new body was put under foot of Marche les Dames. However, this argument is repeatedly rejected by historians.

The controversies that lasted for more than eight decades finally found a solution with the leaves collected at the scene, according to Gizmodo. These are the evidence acquired by Reinout Goddyn, a Belgian journalist, to search for the truth.

In 2014, analysts affirmed that the blood stains on the leaves are human blood. Continuing the investigation, two genetic forensics said the blood sample belonged to King Albert.

Picture 2 of Blood stains on the mysterious 83-year-old leaf on the death of the Belgian king
The leaves and evidence were obtained at the scene of King Albert I's death.(Photo: Maarten Larmuseau).

In the study published in the International Journal of Forensic Science: Genetics, Maarten Larmuseau and colleagues at Leuven University, Belgium, concluded DNA samples on DNA matching DNA of two distant relatives with King Albert I. Simeon II , the last Tsar, the former Bulgarian Prime Minister and the Baroness Anna Maria Freifrau von Haxthausen .

"80 years after the incident, the people involved have passed away, most of the evidence has been lost, we never remove all speculations around this death. However, the blood stain belongs to King Albert I. it was unfounded to assume that he would never go to Marche les Dames or that the king's body was taken in the evening after being killed , " concluded Larmuseau.