In 2002 a French historian asked for Napoleon's ashes to be exhumed for DNA testing, claiming that the remains had been swapped for those of his maître d'hôtel on St.Helena, one Jean-Baptiste Cipriani. Apparently, a witness at the original 1821 burial observed that the great man's teeth were "most villainous", whereas at the exhumation it was reported that they were "exceptionally white". There is some reason for suspicion, as the last round of tests – on a lock of the emperor's hair – suggested he had died of arsenic poisoning, not cancer, as the British claimed. The mystery remains unresolved, as the French defence ministry refused to give up the ashes for testing.
|
