Napoleon had red hair, now we have proof of it. Or do we?

On our partner blog Famous Redheads in History we have this post about Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). In it, we linked several sources describing him as having reddish or chestnut hair. Here are a couple of examples:

- "The hair on his head was not black, but dark reddish-blond; his eyebrows and eyelashes were much darker than the colour of his hair, and his blue eyes, set off by the almost black lashes, gave him a most pleasing expression."
"His very fine chestnut hair, which, until the time of the expedition to Egypt, he had worn long, cut square and covering his ears, was clipped short."

The post also features the photos of two locks of hair.
Red hair is also visible in some portraits, especially (but not only) portraits of Napoleon as a young man. 

Lock of hair from 1817 (source)

 

Now, apparently, we have more solid evidence.
In July 2021 a study was published with the genomic analysis of some phenotypic traits of Napoleon: Napoleon the First, a Corsican with Pale Skin, Clear Eyes and Red Hair: DNA Evidence for these Phenotypic Traits, by Gérard Lucotte, Jacques Macé and Thierry Thomasset.
DNA was extracted from an authenticated lock of hair from 1811.
For the skin colour, the authors studied the F374L polymorphism of the membrane associated transporter protein (MATP) gene (also known as solute carrier family 45 member 2, SLC45A2) and found out Napoleon was homozygous FF for this polymorphism, so he must have had pale skin.
(A cell is said to be homozygous for a particular gene when identical alleles of the gene are present on both homologous chromosomes.)

Bonaparte on the Arcole Bridge on 17 November 1796,  by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1801

 

For eye colour, authors studied the rs12913832 polymorphism near the OCA2 gene. Napoleon resulted to be homozygous CC, so he most likely had blue eyes.
(Please note that on the SNPedia page I’ve linked you’ll find GG instead of CC, but it’s the same thing.)
For hair colour, the whole MC1R gene was sequenced and authors found out Napoleon was heterozygous CG for the rs1805009 polymorphism, corresponding to the D294H mutation. As we have seen in this article, the D294H mutation is considered one of the “strong” (high penetrance) mutations for red hair, but (and authors don’t highlight that) since Napoleon was heterozygous and not homozygous for it, he had a lower chance of red hair than someone with a homozygous mutation. 

Authors wrote they sequenced the whole MC1R gene, but unfortunately they don’t tell us if Napoleon also had low penetrance mutations, which can raise the chances of having red hair in case you have heterozygous mutations. Nor they tell us about Napoleon’s other polymorphisms influencing hair colour. We have to keep in mind that many phenotypic traits are polygenic, which means they are the result of the interaction of multiple genes, even when a single factor (like a certain mutation) may give that trait a particular direction. 

First Consul Bonaparte, by Antoine-Jean Gros (detail), c. 1802

 

Lastly, they analysed Napoleon’s lock of hair with the scanning electron microscope (which we have mentioned here) to study melanosomes. As we saw in the article I have just linked, melanosomes containig eumelanin are ellipsoidal, while malanosomes containing phaeomelanin are spherical. They write: “As the surface area of the piece is more covered by pheomelanin melanosomes than by the eumelanine melanosomes, the colour of the corresponding hair is effectively yellow-brown, so red.”
Unfortunately, they didn’t use the Raman spectroscopy, which can measure the amounts of melanins, thus giving a more precise answer as far as hair colour is concerned.

In any case, if we put all together, I guess we can safely say Napoleon had at least reddish hair. Probably in his youth the red was lighter and darkened in his old age, although in the drawing below, made in Saint Helena, his hair is still red.
We know very well that hair tends to darken in adulthood, and in the case of Napoleon that would be also consistent with his heterozygous mutation. Besides, he suffered from several health issues and this may have influenced his hair colour too.

However, even after this study, both Wikipedia and Grokipedia, in the paragraphs about Napoleon’s appearance, write he had black hair and dark complexion, quoting the same description. Basically, among the many descriptions of Napoleon, they both chose the same, and they both chose the one depicting him with dark colours! What a coincidence… Since he was of Italian origins, he must have had black hair, black eyes and a dark complexion. At least Grokipedia denied the myth of his shortness.
All in all, more red hair erased from history, but not from this blog!

 

Napoleon in Saint Helena, from the book Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène (2018) by C. E. Vial