Robert the Bruce really did suffer from leprosy, scientists have concluded after reconstructing his face from his skull. 
 
 For years, historians have argued about whether the 14th century ­Scottish king was infected with the disease, with some believing there was a ­medieval cover-up so he would not have to relinquish the throne, while others suggest he was the victim of a smear campaign. 
 
 Recently, experts at the Robert The Bruce Heritage Centre said it would have been impossible for him to attend mass, hold court, or drink from his ­local well – all of which he did – if he had suffered from the illness. ||||| Is this the face of Robert the Bruce? 
 
 Could this be the face of Robert the Bruce, as it has never been seen before?‌ 
 
 ‌‌Images of Robert the Bruce 
 
 Scientists and historians have joined forces to create detailed virtual images of what could be the head of Robert the Bruce, reconstructed from the cast of a human skull held by the Hunterian Museum. 
 
 Funded by £5,000 from the University of Glasgow's Chancellor’s Fund in 2014, the realistic images are the outcome of a collaboration between historians from the University and craniofacial experts from Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). 
 
 One image depicts the subject in his prime, a large and powerful male head that would have been supported by a muscular neck and stocky frame – a match for the super-athletes of today. This was a privileged individual who enjoyed the benefits of a first-class diet, and whose physique would have equipped him for the brutal demands of medieval warfare. 
 
 Robert Bruce, hero-king of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329 aged around 55, was no stranger to the battlefield. He waged war to wear down his Scottish opponents and the English regime in Scotland, culminating in the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. To legitimise his kingship and free his kingdom, Bruce also campaigned in northern England and Ireland. 
 
 However, the second image reveals that strength co-existed with frailty. The skull exhibits likely signs of leprosy, disfiguring the upper jaw and nose.‌ 
 
 Historians believe Bruce suffered from an unidentified ailment, possibly leprosy, which laid him low several times during his reign, and probably killed him. In Ulster in 1327, he was said to be so weak that he could only move his tongue. 
 
 The project to put a face to the Hunterian skull was led by Dr Martin MacGregor, a senior lecturer in Scottish history at the University of Glasgow. Dr MacGregor was inspired by the discovery of the skeleton of King Richard III of England beneath a car park in Leicester in 2012. 
 
 “I was aware of previous attempts to recreate the face of the skull linked to Robert the Bruce,” he said. 
 
 “The case of Richard III revealed how far the technology had advanced. I saw an opportunity to apply the technology to the Hunterian skull held here at Glasgow: first to test the credibility of its connection to Bruce, and then to try to add to our knowledge of Scotland’s greatest king.” 
 
 Dr MacGregor requested the expertise of Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of LJMU’s Face Lab and a world-renowned craniofacial identification expert, to carry out the facial reconstruction of Robert the Bruce. Professor Wilkinson was also responsible for the facial reconstruction of Richard III. 
 
 Professor Wilkinson said: “Using the skull cast, we could accurately establish the muscle formation from the positions of the skull bones to determine the shape and structure of the face. But what the reconstruction cannot show is the colour of his eyes, his skin tones and the colour of his hair. We produced two versions – one without leprosy and one with a mild representation of leprosy. He may have had leprosy, but if he did it is likely that it did not manifest strongly on his face, as this is not documented.” 
 
 No reliable visual depictions of Robert the Bruce were made in his own time, and written records tell us nothing about his appearance. DNA would offer another way to establish hair and eye colour – but there is a problem. 
 
 “The skull was excavated in 1818-19 from a grave in Dunfermline Abbey, mausoleum of Scotland’s medieval monarchs,” explains Dr MacGregor. “After the excavation the original skeleton and skull were sealed in pitch and reburied, but not before a cast of the head was taken. Several copies of the cast exist, including the one now in The Hunterian, but without the original bone we have no DNA.” 
 
 “The Hunterian also holds a piece of toe-bone said to have come from the same grave, and not returned to it. We had hoped to try and obtain DNA from this and test it against a living descendant of Robert the Bruce, but the bone would probably have been destroyed in the process.” 
 
 Professor Wilkinson added: “In the absence of any DNA, we relied on statistical evaluation of the probability of certain hair and eye colours, conducted by Dr MacGregor and his team, to determine that Robert the Bruce most likely had brown hair and light brown eyes.” 
 
 “There have also been a number of advances in facial reconstruction techniques since previous depictions of this Scottish hero, including better facial feature prediction and more advanced CGI.” 
 
 “This is the most realistic appearance of Robert the Bruce to-date, based on all the skeletal and historical material available.” 
 
 Further information from Jane Chilton, Communications Office: Tel 0141 330 7126 / Jane.Chilton@glasgow.ac.uk ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The facial reconstruction is based on images of a skull found nearly 200 years ago 
 
 Historians have unveiled a digitally-reconstructed image of the face of Robert the Bruce almost 700 years after his death. 
 
 The image has been produced using casts from what is believed to be the skull of the famous Scottish king. 
 
 It is the culmination of a two-year research project by researchers at universities in Glasgow and Liverpool. 
 
 Until now, portraits and statues of the victor of Bannockburn have relied on artists' imaginations. 
 
 With no contemporary artworks to tell us what King Robert actually looked like, historians at the University of Glasgow teamed up with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) to provide an accurate representation. 
 
 Its Face Lab specialises in recreating likenesses from legal and archaeological evidence - most famously, the face of the English king, Richard the Third. 
 
 Robert the Bruce is best remembered for his victory over the English army at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. 
 
 Project leader Dr Martin Macgregor, a senior lecturer in Scottish history at Glasgow University, said he was arguably the most significant figure in the nation's story. 
 
 "When he took the throne in 1306 Scotland was in a parlous state," he said. 
 
 "Edward I had decreed that henceforth Scotland was to be described as a land rather than a kingdom. 
 
 "I don't think it's going too far to say that unless Bruce had succeeded in that endeavour, we might not be sitting here today talking about a Scotland." 
 
 Glasgow University's Hunterian Museum holds the 200-year old cast, made from a skull unearthed when Bruce's burial place, Dunfermline Abbey was being rebuilt. 
 
 Although they cannot be certain, historians are reasonably confident it is his skull. 
 
 Image copyright Empics Image caption Face Lab uses computer technology to recreate the face from the skull 
 
 Image caption The face was recreated from a cast made from what is believed to have been the king's skull 
 
 Image caption Robert the Bruce was 54 when he died in 1329 
 
 Image caption The researchers recreated the king's face with leprosy and without 
 
 Image caption Robert the Bruce is thought to have had leprosy before his death 
 
 Gilded tomb 
 
 Bruce's opulent tomb, imported from Paris and decorated with black and white marble and elaborate gilding, was destroyed during the Reformation. 
 
 In the early 19th Century, buried deep beneath the abbey, excavators found fragments of black and white marble, some of it gilded. 
 
 Below that they discovered a lead-lined coffin containing human remains which included the skull. Those remains were reinterred, but not before a cast had been made. 
 
 Two centuries later, the latest digital technology was used rebuild the King's face. 
 
 This part of the project was overseen by the craniofacial identification expert Prof Caroline Wilkinson, director of LJMU's Face Lab, in a project that took two years to complete. 
 
 "Using the skull cast, we could accurately establish the muscle formation from the positions of the skull bones to determine the shape and structure of the face," she explained. 
 
 Image copyright Mike pennington Image caption Robert the Bruce's statue at Bannockburn, where his Scottish army defeated the English in 1314 
 
 Image copyright University of Glasgow Image caption Casts of the skull found at Dunfermline Abbey are in the Hunterian Museum's collection 
 
 What the archaeological evidence did not show was the colour of the King's eyes and hair. 
 
 He is said to have been ill prior to his death in 1329, with some accounts suggesting he had leprosy. 
 
 For his skin tones, Prof Wilkinson said they produced two versions; one without leprosy and one with a mild representation of leprosy. 
 
 "He may have had leprosy, but if he did it is likely that it did not manifest strongly on his face, as this is not documented." 
 
 'Sense of character' 
 
 Dr Macgregor said: "There is a real sense of character in this face. 
 
 "Bruce must have been a remarkable man. All of his achievements suggest this to us. 
 
 "There must have been tremendous strength of purpose in this individual as well as many other human virtues - flaws as well." 
 
 Dr Macgregor said historians should remain cautious about the identity of the skull. More than one Scottish monarch was buried at Dunfermline. 
 
 But Prof David Gaimster, the director of the Hunterian, is confident the face is that of the famous king. 
 
 "The combination of these magnificent gilded marble fragments and the skeleton itself, the lead wrapping, the depth of the tomb, the location," he said 
 
 "All of this information begins to build a high level of probability that this was in fact the tomb of Robert the Bruce." 
 
 With Richard the Third there was DNA evidence too but achieving similar confirmation would be problematic. 
 
 There exists only one fragment from Dunfermline Abbey which might yield a DNA sample. 
 
 But trying to extract the DNA would mean destroying that tiny piece of bone. 
 
 There is a well-established principle in such circumstances: leave it. Future generations may find a better way. 
 
 It also means that, for all our technological advances, Scotland's hero king will retain some of his mystery for a little longer. 
 
 The King's Head - the documentary following the reconstruction from start to finish - will be screened on BBC ALBA on 15 December 15 at 20:30
– Robert the Bruce, King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329 and perhaps most famous for defeating the English army at the Battle of Bannockburn, has been dead some 700 years, but we're just now getting a good idea of what he might have looked like. Without any renderings of the man from his own lifetime, any likenesses in statues and portraits were dreamed up by artists, reports the BBC. But thanks to two years of work by historians at the University of Glasgow, with help from the Liverpool John Moores University's Face Lab (best known for recreating the face of Richard the Third), experts have captured the man. They were able to do so thanks to a 200-year-old plaster cast of a skull found in a coffin buried under Dunfermline Abbey. Whether the skull actually belongs to Robert the Bruce hasn't been confirmed, because he wasn't the only leader buried at Dunfermline and the skull was long ago reinterred. A press release explains a toe bone taken from the coffin wasn't returned to it, but extracting DNA from the bone would mean its destruction. That means no verification, and no genetic information about Robert the Bruce's physical characteristics. For now, the researchers say they relied on "statistical evaluation" in giving him brown hair and light brown eyes, reports the Telegraph. He is thought to possibly have had leprosy, so one version shows him with a thick neck and build—a "match for super-athletes today," per the release, and another with "a mild representation of leprosy," which would have affected his nose and jaw. (John McCain has claimed to be related.)