A HAMPSHIRE man could be about to blow the lid on one of the Royal Family's darkest secrets, if his appeal to the highest church court in England is successful.

Nicholas Locock has asked the Church of England's ancient Court of Arches for permission to exhume his grandfather Henry Locock and to remove part of his relative's skeleton for DNA testing.

And why has the 75-year-old from Rockbourne near Fordingbridge asked for such permission? Because according to a family legend, Henry is the secret love child of Queen Victoria's sixth daughter, Princess Louise, and the DNA taken from his bones could help to prove it.

The legend says that Henry, who was born in December 1887 and now lies in an overgrown tomb in Sevenoaks in Kent, was the son of the Princess and Army Captain Walter Stirling from the Isle of Wight.

Now, following the latest advances in DNA testing and a chance discovery in Siberia, the truth about Henry Locock's birth could finally be revealed.

That discovery was the frozen remains of Russia's last Royal family and in particular Tsarina Alexandra, Queen Victoria's granddaughter, who was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918, and whose DNA could prove a link between Henry and Princess Louise.

As the case got under way in London last week, the court heard how the legend had been sparked by inconsistencies in Henry Locock's will. When he died he left just £435, however his children were left £110,000 - about £6m in today's money.

Mr Locock's barrister Michael Gledhill QC said: "Somebody had provided, at an unknown date, a fortune. The child was born of extremely wealthy parents."

He added that Henry Locock died after falling off a train platform in Canada, where it is thought he had gone to track down Captain Stirling who fled there after he is said to have got the 19-year-old Princess pregnant.

The court heard if the link was proved, no money, lands or titles would be inherited.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Locock said: "My grandfather, Henry Locock, told each of his six children that he was the son of Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise."

A decision on the matter is expected within six months.