Iron Age ruler long hailed as the king who brought the Romans to Britain may have been a WOMAN, research suggests

The study challenges nearly two millennia of assumptions about one of Britain's most consequential historical figures. Its findings rewrite the early Roman-British narrative at a stroke.

Historians had long assumed Verica was male, partly because the name was recorded in Latin masculine form on coins.

The research, based on bone analysis, suggests the physical remains attributed to Verica are consistent with a female individual.

If confirmed, Verica would be the second powerful Iron Age British woman — alongside the warrior queen — to have shaped the course of Roman Britain.