I recently found out that my great-grandmother was a member of the Pierce Family, the very same family that George Bush came from. I found that I am a 4th cousin of George Bush. I went on Burke's Peerage, and found out about George Bush's lineage, because Burke's Peerage has covered every President, and the Pierce Family's lineage, and found out we are very closely related to royalty and I did some more research on Burke's Peerage and found that I am:
-a 18th great-grandson of Henry VII
-a 17th great-grandson of Margaret Tudor
-a 16th great-grandson of Mary, Queen of Scots
-a 15th great-grandson of James I
-a 14th great-grandson of Charles I
-a 13th great-grandson of Charles II
If my ancestors were royalty and nobility, why didn't they stay in England?
2007-06-09 02:18:58 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Royalty
That's still a fairly distant relation. Maybe your ancestors were related enough to be well off, but not to be official royalty, so there was no specific reason to stay in England versus establishing themselves in a new country. Also, the time period that your ancestors came to this country might have something to do with it. If they came over when America was still a colony, they might not have been giving up any of their royal ties to do so. Also, there is the bastard possibility as others have mentioned. Look into it a little further and see at what point your ancestors stopped carrying titles of nobility, and that might help you find the answer.
2007-06-09 03:30:56 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know why we see so many of these questions. You are related (barely) to Tudor and Stuart royals, not the royals of today. Those families died out and if you are truly an ancestor then someone out of your family would have kept on the name and would have become king. This was not the case so those people weren't even considered royal then, so have no prestige today. As for very closely I wouldn't say that being a 13x great grandson of Charles II is close to being royal at all.
2007-06-09 05:25:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
You are so distantly related to royalty, that it hardly counts. Just about everyone can trace their ancestry back to nobility if they go far enough.
You are not a noble, far less royalty, unless ALL your ancestors, both male and female were noble too. And then you might just be the offspring of a younger son. Younger sons did not inherit land or titles, they had to look out for themselves. One reason that so many of them emigrated.
2007-06-09 06:43:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Probably because they wanted to begin a new life in the new world and not have to be tied down by all the bagage that comes with being in a royalty family.
2007-06-09 02:27:41 · answer #4 · answered by Linds 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For the same reason my family,from titled French and English aristocracy came over:the line of succession gives all of titles,property,et cetera, to the heir.Younger sons and daughters had to make their own way;America was seen as a land of opportunity,a place to start a new family,make new business connections...start new businesses.
My family's titles still exist but my branch of the family didn't inherit the titles had to make its own way.
2007-06-09 07:26:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Royals have had a very fine reputation of having sex with those they were not married to; thus, half of Europe and those migrating to American have some of that blood. If they were CLOSELY related, and reaping the rewards of being royal, you can bet your bippy they'd have stayed in Europe.
2007-06-09 02:25:51 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
Being of noble birth isn't all it's cracked up to be. You have usurpers and back stabbers who are jealous of your place in line. I guess it never occurred to you that the Peirce family had it's own enemies who would do great harm to them if they stayed in Europe?
2007-06-09 04:13:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
So far removed from the thrown? Wouldn't you go to another place to be a rich, powerful land owner too?
2007-06-09 06:04:43 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The ancestors who emigrated were not royal themselves - in all likelihood, they were roughly like you: distant non-noble descendants of royalty.
2007-06-09 04:36:04 · answer #9 · answered by JerH1 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Those Kings had a LOT of bastard children. They screwed the maids, the serfs, etc. Those children were nothing special, they had to make it on their own.
2007-06-09 02:22:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋