One question that always seems to intrigue people when researching their family history is if they have any royal blood… even the most minuscule amount. I didn’t set out to answer that question specifically, but to my delight — I’m royal***! Huzzah!
*** there’s still a lot of research to do to confirm any of this… but it’s at least a fun thought!
Okay… so I descend from royalty, but so does a giant percentage of the population at this point. And on top of that, once you find you’re related to one royal, you’re pretty much related to a whole lot more. Thank you lines of succession!
My link is through my father’s side. To be more specific, I believe the most ‘recent’ bigwig royal was King Henry I of England , my 29th great grandfather. So let’s map this out:
King Henry I of England is my Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Mom’s Mom’s Mom’s Mom’s Dad’s Mom’s Dad’s Dad’s Mom’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad’s Mom’s Dad’s Mom’s Dad’s Mom’s Mom’s Dad’s Dad’s Dad.
**phew!**
I guess this is as good a time as any to throw in my disclaimer: These connections are so old, and so commonly sought out, that more intensive research is required to confirm/disprove these theories. Much of what ‘s found is research completed by someone else… or factoids on other people’s trees with research completed by someone else who used yet another person’s work as a baseline. Essentially, though I joke that I’m of royal descent (AHEM, where’s my tiara???), I consider my findings from this era with a grain of salt.
SO – we left off with my 29th great grandfather, King Henry I of England. Because of that link, I can then say that his father is William the Conqueror I (aka William the Bastard — according to Wikipedia, at least), whose dad is Robert Duke of Normandy I (aka Robert the Magnificent), whose dad is Richard Duke of Normandy II (aka Richard the Good), whose dad is Richard Duke of Normandy I (aka Richard the Fearless). This would make Richard Duke of Normandy I my 33rd great grandfather.
If you back up a few generations to Robert Duke of Normandy I and trace his maternal line, his mom’s mom’s mom’s dad’s mom’s dad was Robert King of France I (35th great grandfather). Backing up again to Robert Duke of Normandy I, his mom’s mom’s mom’s dad’s dad’s dad’s dad’s dad was Bernard King of Italy.
From Bernard King of Italy (my 38th great grandfather) … his dad was Pepin King of Italy. Pepin’s dad was Charlemagne King of the Lombards (yes, THAT Charlemagne; aka Charles the Great, aka Charles I). His dad was Pepin the Short (King of the Franks), and then it kind of trickles away from there, with Pepin the Short being my 41st great grandfather.
Are you confused yet? I certainly am… and I haven’t even thrown in information about incest and marrying your brother’s widow or … the possibilities are endless.
So what to do with this newfound knowledge of where you come from? In my case, take advantage and crack royalty jokes now and then and occasionally demand a tiara (see above). Otherwise, these anecdotes have been filed away for further research at a later date. As cool as it would be to confirm my theories, I’m much more interested in the more recent generations.
Time for some more research!