(Photo: University Of Aberdeen)A pair of slippers sitting in a collection at the University of Aberdeen has been identified as belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte's sister, Princess Pauline Borghese.

Slippers belonging to Napoleon's sister have been found in Aberdeen, Scotland according to reports out this week.

University of Aberdeen's museum team member, Louise Wilkie, was given the task to clean and sort through a collection that belonged to the Banff-born medical graduate and traveller Robert Wilson.

Wilkie's research work led to the discovery that a pair of slippers likely belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte's sister, Princess Pauline Borghese.

Wilkie has said, "It is amazing to think the slippers have been here all this time but their significance was never fully realized," according to BBC News.

The slippers are small and made of silk and leather, and have now been put on display for the public to see.

On the slippers' sole the name "Pauline Rome" was inscribed.

Wilkie said: "Robert Wilson left his collection of objects from his extensive travels to the museum in his will in 1871. In a list of the objects donated by Wilson is the description of 'A pair of slippers - Pauline, Rome Jan 20th 1824'. I began to look at other archival material held by the university and found that Wilson had a friendship with Princess Pauline Borghese, the sister of Napoleon Bonaparte."

She also told the BBC: "Letters from him to Pauline show a close friendship and in his diary he describes how she spent a lot of time with him traveling in Italy and gave him many gifts, including a ring which is also held in the museum collections.

"The relationship between Wilson and Princess Pauline can only be speculated upon, however records do indicate some form of attraction and attachment.

"He kept the gifts she had given him for life and then they passed to the University collections.

"It is amazing to think the slippers have been here all this time but their significance was never fully realized. I was delighted to make a discovery of this kind."