When Prince Harry announced his engagement to
American actress, Megan Markle,
it put the media and fans of the Royal Family in an absolute state of
awe-filled, chaotic wildfire.
Stylish, talented, bright and beautiful, Megan became
an immediant superstar and crown jewel in her own right.
It was the second royal wedding to an American
since Edward VII's scandalous, morganatic bethrothal to Wallis Simpson,
that more or less led to his eventual abdication.
And the first royal marraige to one of African - American descent.
Despite being American, a commoner and one of mixed ethnicity,
it might come as a suprise to some,
that Megan sports her own royal pedigree
and is actually a distant relation to
husband, and soon-to-be father
to her own royal brood.
As I said, distant relation, not the close, creepy kind favoured by royals of the distant past.
As well as the...
Well.... recent past.
I'm Jonny from Motar & Ivy
and this is the Duchess of Sussex's Royal Roots.
For this presentation, bear in mind,
solid lines indicate a direct relation,
while dotted lines signify an abbreviated relationship
consolidating multiple generations.
Through her father, Thomas Wayne Markel, Megan is
21st  great-granddaughter to Edward III.
She descends from Edwad III's thrid son,
Lionel Antwerp, the Duke of Clarence.
From Lionel, this family link descends from Phillipa of Clarence
and Phillipa's great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Wentworth.
Elizabeth Mortimer is the granddaughter of Megan's ancestor, Isabel Hillyard.
But also Jane Seymour, the third wife to Henry VIII
and mother to Edward VI, who died in childbirth to the boy king.
Megan is Seymour's first cousin 15 times removed.
This line then falls through the
Skepper, Merrill, Smith, and Drake families.
To Megan's grandmother, Doris Sanders and modern day.
The current line of Brittish royals descends from Edward's second son,  John of Gaunt.
Passing through Henry VII and his daughter Margaret,
Mary, who'd become Queen of Scots,
and on through the houses of Hannover and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
As you may have noticed, this dotted line
From James VI & I connects to both
Her Majesty, the Queen and Prince Phillip as they are both
direct descendants of Queen Victoria.
And thus, Henry VII and Edward III etc.
Meagn's royal roots don't end at England's northernmost border, either.
The royal bride traces her lineage to Scotland's hero king,
Robert the Bruce, who defeated England and Gained independance for Scotland
in 1314.
From, guess who? Edward III.
This line descends through wine merchant Roger Shaw,
who emigrated from London to Plymouth Massechusetts
around 1637.
His ancestor James Shaw married Christan Bruce,
sometimes stylised Christina, in Yorkshire 1490.
Christian was the daughter of
St. David Bruce and Saint, he's a saint now.
Christian was the daughter of Sir. David Bruce.
6th Baron of Clackmannan and a direct reletive of King Robert.
The barons Clackmannan were of certain Bruce descent.
And King David II of Scotland refered to Thomas Bruce, Megan's ancestor
As the seinor most member of the clan.
But historians disagree exactly how.
He is refered to as a distant counsin, an illegetitimate brother, and even illegitimate son,
to Scotland's warrior king.
All of this goes to show that, maybe, just maybe,
Megan's style, pose, and skill
as a recently branded royal isn't so much a
spontaneously developed atlent, as infact, a
genetically inherited trait.
Buuuuuuut, that's rubbish isn't it?
While it's fun to trace genealogical lines
to important hisorical figures,
by doing so, we overlook the fact that we have the biggest hand in our destinies.
Our progenitures play a valuable part in our existance,
our genetic make-up,
and our family ties.
But in the end, the ball in in our own court.
And what we do with it is up to us.
The duchess herself points out the ironies  of descending
from both royalty and slavery
in an essay for Harper's Bazzar she says of the latter,
"Perhaps the closest to connecting me to my ever complex
family tree, my longing to know where I come from,
and the commonality that links me to my bloodline,
is teh choice that my great-great grand father made
to start anew.
He chose the last name Wisdom,
he drew his own box."
I've been Jonny. You're always welcome in my neck of the woods.
