How common is it to be related to these people?

Question

I have heard many people are related to these people, like I am:
I am:
-a 22nd great-grandson of King Robert the Bruce
-a 23rd great-grandson of King Edward I
-a 21st great grandson of King Edward III


But I hear relations to these people are a lot less common because they are closer in time:
I am:
-a 13th great grandson of Queen Mary Tudor,
-a 13th great grandson of Mary, Queen of Scots
-a 12th great grandson of King James I of England
-a 10th great grandson of King Charles II

I went to a genealogist, and he said I have an uncommon amount of royal ancestry compared to most people.

Answer 1

You are about the fifth or sixth person who has mentioned the first part of your question here in the genealogy category. If you search for "great-grandson robert bruce" nothing comes up, but if you search for plain "robert bruce" and wade through the history, book and movie questions, you'll see several people have asked about being R the B's 22nd grandson. It isn't uncommon to be related to royalty. The early ones coupled with anyone who would hold still for 10 minutes.

It is even commoner to get a solicitation in the mail with some questionable facts and an offer to learn more, for a fee. The fact five or six separate people have asked essentially the same question makes me suspicious. I suspect a mass mail marketing campaign.

If you - or your consulting genealogist - traced your lines back that far, fine. No one I know trusts anything back before 1600 or so, unless you get a DNA test. I travel in cynical circles. You may not.

If, however, you received an offer saying someone had unlocked the secret of your birth, and would share it with you for $39.99, (or $59.99 if you wanted a copy of the family coat of arms), I'd advise you to put one hand on your wallet and back away, never taking your eyes off him.

Answer 2

It's possible that you have all these connections but as other people have said, there is a lot of poorly done research out there the object of which is to connect up with as much royalty as close in time to us as possible.

It is really a question of working carefully from the known to the unknown - and having knowledge about your real true ancestors, whoever they were, as your goal - not to find as many royal lines as possible.

The earlier ancestors such as Edward I are not that uncommon, especially if you have a couple of gateway ancestors; i.e., 17th century colonists with well-traced medieval lines. Even then you cannot always be sure if the gateway lines have been disproved, or whether you are truly descended from them - or, that is, not without a good deal of careful, objective research.

That genealogist you went to should have told you some of these things, I think.

Answer 3

I would agree with the other answerer. You need to be very careful with accepting someone elses work. I have also found that I am related to Edward I of England, but it was a painstaking journey to find it. My mother worked on her family history for over 20 years before I started working on it too. It took me an additional 15 years to find our legitimate connection to royalty.

I think people would be surprised at how many people have royal ancestry, but the trick is going back far enough to find it. Often you hit a dead end before you get there. This is especially true because only royal records were kept past a certain point in history. Once you get there, royal genealogy can be traced back pretty far. Once you find your way, you will find all sorts of interconnected lines. It becomes a web of sorts. There was a lot of intermarrying in royal lines of genealogy. Once I did one line back, I found that it was the same line elsewhere in my web. I think there is at least one King that is my ?-greatgrandfather 5 times!

Anyway, If you want to trace it further start reading your history books. It is more exciting to find it than it is just to know it, but be careful along the way not to make assumptions. And don't forget, I am actually more proud of being related to my not so famous relatives than my famous ones. You can learn alot about them just in the general sense through history books too.

Answer 4

Hello cousin,

I'm a direct descendant of Robert the Bruce on both my paternal and maternal sides of the family. I'm also a direct descendant of Mary Queen of Scots, King James I of England (and VI of Scotland) as well as Charles I and Charles II of England--all on my mother's side, even though Charles II didn't have any legitimate heirs. By the way, a distant ancestor, Lucy Walters, was one of Charles the II's mistresses.

Charles fathered two children by Lucy: James, Duke of Monmouth, and Mary [Stuart]. Charles acknowledged James as his son, but he failed to recognize Mary since Lucy had a reputation for playing the field. Lucy became a faith healer while Mary married and moved to Ireland, and in turn, a couple of generations later her prodigy moved to Virginia, and in time they intermarried with most of the First Families of Virginia--the Lees, the Randolphs, at least five signers of the Declaration of Independence, and eventually at least 1/4 of the Presidents of the United States, including George W. Bush and John F. Kennedy--not to mention Jackie Kennedy, Bess Truman (related several times over), and Laura Bush.

Of course, since Charles acknowledged James, some of his heirs married into some very recognizable English families. Descendants include Lady Diana Spencer, Sarah Ferguson, and Camilla Parker Bowles.

All that is to say, it isn't that uncommon. If you are American, it probably just means that at least some of your ancestors have lived in North America since the 1600s. Then again, maybe you should run for President. Do you want a female running mate from Texas?

Answer 5

I have never taken time to analyse the specifics concerning some of the "known" American families (ie early Virginians, etc) and how many of these are/are not descended from royalty. So I very much doubt that there is a solid right answer to what you are asking.
Something that I HAVE seen as common, is poor quality research, and people who are known to be interested solely for the purpose of claiming famous ancestry. There are many many "bad" genealogies out there... ones that make assumptions, or are based in poor conclusions. These are known to exist in LDS files, Daughters of the American Revolution, and definitely, online. All over the net, you will see persons who have never found an original record in their life, and wouldn't know one if it bit them in the royal posterior. How many thousands of persons they have in their database is all that matters to them... without even knowing how many of those names are ACCURATE.
Early early in my own research, I happily accepted the "lineage" found in a book, written by a professional researcher (and it was her own line too). A few months later, I stumbled onto original evidence that absolutely showed her assumption of parentage for my ancestor was WRONG. It was an excellent lesson for me about WHICH SOURCES are reliable, and which are not.
http://www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm
Here's one page I wish I could share with every newbie that stops by here. Tons of articles related to genealogical urban legends, as I call them. I am very skeptical that a genealogist can make a judgement on your ancestry, without taking time to do the research.
You pays your money, and takes your choices. If YOU have not done your own research, you lose the opportunity to know how genealogical gossip starts, and if your ancestry is "proven" or not.

Answer 6

impossible, Mary Tudor died childless as for the different 3 on account that Mary, Queen of Scots replaced into the mum of James I and he replaced into the Grandfather of Charles II that's no longer probably 3 separate family.

Answer 7

Its not very common, But I am related to some English Royalty.

Answer 8

I think that the further back we document our ancestry, the fewer people there were. It's important to document carefully.

Answer 9

Seems to me that you are caught up in only "two" things and both are about you; royalty and your butt. Are you trying to impress someone or complaining because you haven't?

Answer 10

Are you just wanting to blow your own trumpet, or is there a question about genealogy here somewhere.