It has revealed that the woman is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Scientists in the Swiss city of Basel have solved a decades-old mystery over the identity of a mummified woman.
Found in 1975 whilst renovations were being done on Basel’s Barfüsser Church, the body was buried wearing good quality clothes infront of the church’s alter. The nature of the burial and the conditions the body was buried in indicate that this Basel resident was amongst the better off of the population. It’s known by local Historians that members of the Basel family were wealthy enough to be buried in such conditions.
There was no gravestone to indicate her identity, but initial testing of her wooden coffin suggested it dated from the 16th Century.
The woman is said to have died of mercury poisoning. Mercury was a standard treatment so syphilis in the 15th – 19th centuries.
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HeadlineMummified Basel woman is “ancestor” of Boris Johnson
Short HeadlineMummified Basel woman is "descendant" of Boris Johnson
Standfirst
It has revealed that the woman is the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Scientists in the Swiss city of Basel have solved a decades-old mystery over the identity of a mummified woman.
Found in 1975 whilst renovations were being done on Basel’s Barfüsser Church, the body was buried wearing good quality clothes infront of the church’s alter. The nature of the burial and the conditions the body was buried in indicate that this Basel resident was amongst the better off of the population. It’s known by local Historians that members of the Basel family were wealthy enough to be buried in such conditions.
There was no gravestone to indicate her identity, but initial testing of her wooden coffin suggested it dated from the 16th Century.
The woman is said to have died of mercury poisoning. Mercury was a standard treatment so syphilis in the 15th – 19th centuries.
A 2024 Freedom of Information request showed Bromley Council had £4.5 million invested in arms companies that year with £1.5 million reportedly linked to Israel.
Undercover officers raided three linked shops in Barking town centre, revealing how illicit tobacco is being hidden in walls, ceilings and nearby locations to evade detection.
More than 330,000 people across the UK sought support from the Stop It Now helpline in 2025 over concerns about their own or someone else’s online sexual behaviour towards children, according to new charity data. The anonymous service says contacts by phone, email and webchat rose significantly over the year.
