DNA test over 1876 'love child' of royal

The mystery over whether Queen Victoria had an illegitimate grandson could be decided by DNA tests - if the country's highest ecclesiastical court allows a body to be exhumed in Kent.

Henry Locock, who died in 1907 aged 39, is claimed by family members to have been the love child of Princess Louise, Victoria's most beautiful daughter. His exhumation from a vault in the graveyard of St Nicholas Church, Sevenoaks, could settle this.

His grandson Nicholas wants to take a bone sample-from the corpse and compare his DNA with that of Russian Tsarina Alexandra, Victoria's grand-daughter. If it matches, he says Henry Locock and the Tsarina - executed by Bolsheviks in 1917 - would have been first cousins.

Princess Louise was 19 when she fell in love with her religious teacher, the Rev Robin Duckworth. According to family legend, the Queen's gynaecologist delivered her baby the same year - 1876 - and he was adopted by the doctor's son.