Reconstructed face of Robert the Bruce revealed

A digitally-reconstructed image of the face of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce has been unveiled by historians nearly 700 years after his death. The image was produced  using casts made from a skull unearthed when what is confidently believed to be the grave of Scotland’s most famous king was found when Dunfermline Abbey was being rebuilt. The reconstruction is the culmination of a two-year research project at universities in Glasgow and Liverpool. No contemporary portrait of Robert the Bruce survives and until now images have relied on artists' impressions of what he might have looked like.

King Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329) was popularly known as Robert the Bruce. Robert eventually led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England and was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. He is best remembered for his victory over the English army at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Robert died on 7 June 1329 and was interred at Dunfermline Abbey. His remains were first discovered in February 1818 by workmen during construction work. A plaster cast was taken of the skull and eventually Robert the Bruce's remains were ceremonially re-interred in the vault in Dunfermline Abbey on 5 November 1819.