Monday, February 28, 2011

My Relationship To Prince William

Posted by Craig on 2/28/2011
Today I saw "The King's Speech," just a few hours before it won the big Oscar tonight for Best Picture.

It was fantastic, and as a genealogy enthusiast, it immediately sent me to Wikipedia when I walked out of the movie theatre to figure out the relationships of the characters to Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal Family.

When I found out the film focused on Queen Elizabeth II's parents, George VI and Elizabeth I, my interest peaked. These, of course, are the great-grandparents of Prince William. And what a speech his great-grandfather gave. Such a moving sequence in the film.

It also reminded me of my own connection to royalty -- in November 2008 (a decade after starting to research my family history), I found the definitive link tracing my ancestry back to Charlemagne.

Of course, the modern-day Royal Family in England descends of Charlemagne, too, and while I had never officially made the link to them, tonight I spent time filling their line into my tree, and I now have a definitive blood link.

Prince William, engaged to be married to Kate Middleton in April, is my 32nd cousin, once removed.

It's an *insane* relationship, when you think about it -- hugely distant. First cousins share grandparents, second cousins share great-grandparents, third cousins share great-great-grandparents, and so on. We are 32nd cousins! That means we share 31-greats-grandparents.

Our common ancestors include Charlemagne, but our most direct link is to Baldwin of Flanders V and Adelheid, Princess of France, who married in Paris in 1028. Their son Baldwin of Flanders is my ancestor, and their daughter Matilda who married some guy named William the Conqueror (William I, King of England), is Prince William's ancestor.

And there you have it!

2 comments on "My Relationship To Prince William"

Lady Hollie of Ormond said...

Elizabeth I is Queen Elizabeth the daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII a Queen that is married to the King by lineage is a Queen Consort and therefor not part of the numbering sequence. After Queen Elizabeth II was crowned her mother took on the Title 'Queen Mother'. We are also cousins then since I am cousins with Queen Elizabeth II through multiple lines (since royals pretty much intermarried cousins you are going to find multiple lines that you cousin and by marriage are related to any royal). If you go via King William I 'The Conqueror' then our shared Great Grands in that line would be Richard I of Normandy "Richard Sans-Peur (The Fearless)", Count of Rouen and Emma de Paris Robertians, Duchess Consort of Normandy
If looking at the next cousin link that I have with Queen Elizabeth II is Great Grands King Henry Tudor, VII of England, Scotland and Ireland and Queen consort Elizabeth York, of England (Tudor) (When the white and red roses became combined from York and Tudor) and this is where I also have cousins Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII Anne being created Great Grand Pairing is Geoffrey / Godfrey de Clare Count of Eu, Count of Brionne and Lasceline De Turqueville, Countess Consort of Eu (House of Clare) so I think the closest of the at least 4 ways I am cousins with Prince William is 30th cousin but there are probobly like 13 or more ways I don't see because I did not spread overtly far off the Butler line so far and only did the line to Current monarchy since Queen Elizabeth and I have oldest known link so far to be Rollo the Viking whom would become the GrandSire of most of the European Houses of Royalty after being given the Duchy of Normandy to Protect Paris from other Viking invasions. There is much debate over where Rollo actually came from and if he was or was not of royal birth in Scandinavia. I was never overly genealogy minded but I had a handwritten family tree my Paternal Grandmother had drawn one for each of us Grandchildren only about 6 generations back on my Paternal Grandfathers side and to the first of her side to come to US from England. My Mother had done her DNA and then I did my son and I on 23 and Me and ended up going from only knowing about 3 Generations on my Mom's side to that is the most info I now have info on and found the Butler lineage connection to Rollo and then from there to current royal houses. My favorite was actually finding out I was cousins with Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I. Huge fangirl of the Tudors and the Irish and Scottish Jacobite Risings found Scottish Jacobites in my Son's paternal lines and then The Butlers have number of Jacobites from the Elizabeth I vs Mary Queen Of Scots time. I am super interested in finding out more goodies about the Butler Great Grands that one died in the Tower and another is only says he 'was poisoned at dinner'. If your Rollo Normand line did not come over till William then you are not directly a Butler but you are a Butler cousin so would also be related to her through that side as well and might reduce your number of cousin-ness.

Unknown on April 2, 2022 at 12:45 PM said...

The Best Casinos in USA - APRCasino
It titanium flat iron is one of the most well-known casino casinos, and aprcasino it is owned and https://jancasino.com/review/merit-casino/ operated by the Rincon Band sol.edu.kg of Luiseno 1xbet 먹튀 Indians. There are over 100 different

 

Journey into Genealogy Copyright 2009 Reflection Designed by Ipiet Templates Image by Tadpole's Notez