Ancestry charts of Diana Spencer and Catherine Middleton

All people are descended via various racial or ethnic lines of antiquity, but in most cases, records do not exist. The British Royal Family is one of the few families for which ancestry can be traced to many notable lineages of antiquity. Their lineage can be traced back to the Saxons, Scottish (Stuart dynasty), Welsh (Tudor dynasty), Irish, Germans (Hanover and Windsor), French (Norman and Angevin), Russians, Franks and perhaps even Byzantines.

Ancestry

Diana, Princess of Wales (née Diana Spencer) was born into a British noble family. Her ancestry includes many royals and nobles.

• Her father, John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, descended from over a dozen monarchs:
  • King James II of England (7x great grandfather of John Spencer)
  • King Charles II of England (7x great grandfather of John Spencer)
    • Through his illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy.
    • Potentially through Mary Crofts (Mary Stuart), who claimed Charles II was her father by mistress Lucy Walter. This paternity was not acknowledged by the King. Other sources list Theobald Taaffe, 1st Earl of Carlingford or Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington as her father. The surname Crofts comes from Bennet's mother.
  • King Charles I of England (father of Charles II and James II of England)
  • King Henry IV of France (maternal grandfather of Charles II and James II of England)
  • Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (2x great grandfather of Charles II and James II of England)
  • King Philip I of Castile (father of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor)
  • Queen Joanna of Castile (mother of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor)
  • King Ferdinand II of Aragon (father of Joanna of Castile)
  • Queen Isabella I of Castile (mother of Joanna of Castile)
  • King John II of Castile (father of Isabella I of Castile)
  • King Henry III of Castile (father of John II of Castile)
  • King John I of Portugal (great grandfather of Isabella I of Castile)
  • King Edward III of England through two of his sons: Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence and John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster
    • Through a daughter of Lionel of Antwerp, Philippa of Clarence (17x great grandmother of John Spencer)
    • Through a daughter of John of Gaunt, Philippa of Lancaster (wife of John I of Portugal and great grandmother of Isabella I of Castile)
    • Through a daughter of John of Gaunt, Catherine of Lancaster (wife of Henry III of Castile and mother of John II of Castile)
    • Through a daughter of John of Gaunt, Joan Beaufort (18x great grandmother of John Spencer through daughter Eleanor Percy)
• Also through her father, John Spencer, she descended from Rory O'Moore, an Irish noble, through his grandson, William Sarsfield. William's brother was Patrick Sarsfield (who was named after their father).^[1]
• Her mother, Frances Roche, was the daughter of an Irish peer, Maurice Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (née Middleton) is descended from King Edward IV through her mother, Carole Middleton, and from King Edward III through her father, Michael Middleton. She therefore shares a number of common ancestors with her husband, Prince William:

• According to genealogists Patrick Cracroft-Brennan and Anthony Adolph, Catherine is a direct descendant of King Edward IV, via her mother Carole Middleton, from Elizabeth Plantagenet, (King Edward IV's illegitimate daughter by Elizabeth Lucy), via Sir Thomas Blakiston Conyers, 9th Bt. of Horden, Durham.^[2][3] Thus, Catherine and Prince William's closest common ancestors are Sir William Blakiston of Gibside Estate and his wife Jane Lambton, making them eleventh cousins once removed,^[2][3] These findings echo Christopher Challender Child's research, published in 2011.^[4]
• It was reported in December 2014 that the famous Blakiston-Bowes Cabinet, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, provided proof that Catherine shared ancestry with Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Catherine and the Queen Mother share a common ancestor, County Durham's Sir William Blakiston, whose great granddaughter, Elizabeth Blakiston, married into the Bowes-Lyon family who were ancestors of the Queen Mother, née Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The cabinet was made in Newcastle to celebrate the union of the two gentry families. Reports suggested that Catherine and the Queen Mother's blood cousinship was the reason why Catherine wore the Queen Mother's tiara when she wed Prince William.^[5][6][7][8]
• Genealogical research by William Addams Reitwiesner, also published in 2011, found that Catherine is descended from Sir Thomas Fairfax (c.1475–1520) and his wife Agnes Gascoigne, an ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and a descendant of King Edward III, via Michael Middleton's grandmother Olive Middleton née Lupton. This ancestry makes Catherine and Prince William fourteenth cousins once removed.^[9][10][11]

Common ancestors:

• They both descend from King Edward III through his sons, Lionel of Antwerp's, daughter Philippa of Clarence and through another son's, John of Gaunt, daughter Joan Beaufort.^[12] Shared medieval ancestors (between Diana and Catherine) include Margaret Percy (great granddaughter of Joan Beaufort and 2x great granddaughter of Philippa of Clarence) and Sir William Gascoigne (2x great grandson of Joan Beaufort).
• Diana and Catherine also share a number of other common ancestors including: Sir William Blakiston, Anne Gascoigne (daughter of Margaret Percy and William Gascoigne) and her husband, Sir Thomas Fairfax.

Ancestry chart from Edward III

Edward III of England (1312–1377)

Philippa of Hainault (1314–1369)

Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (1338–1368)

Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster (1332–1363)

Blanche of Lancaster (1345–1368)

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340–1399)

Constance of Castile (1354–1394)

Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster (1355–1382)

Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1352–1381)

Philippa of Lancaster (1359–1415)

John I of Portugal (1358–1433)

Catherine of Lancaster (1373–1418)

Henry III of Castile (1379–1406)

Elizabeth Mortimer (1371–1417)

Henry Percy (Hotspur) (1364/1366-1403)

Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1374–1398)

Alianore Holland (1373–1405)

John, Lord of Reguengos de Monsaraz (1400–1442)

Isabella of Barcelos (1402–1466)

Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (1393–1455)

Eleanor Neville (c. 1397-1472)

Anne de Mortimer (1390–1411)

Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge (c. 1375-1415)

Isabella of Portugal (1428–1496)

John II of Castile (1405–1454)

Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (1421–1461)

Eleanor Poynings (1422–1480)[13]

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (1411–1460)

Cecily Neville (1415–1495)

Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504)

Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516)

Margaret Percy (b. c. 1447)

Sir William Gascoigne^a (c. 1450-1486)

Edward IV of England (1442–1483)

Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437-1492)

Joanna of Castile (1479–1555)

Philip I of Castile (1478–1506)

Elizabeth Gascoigne (1470–1559)[14]

Sir George Tailboys, de jure 9th Baron Kyme (c. 1467-1538)

Anne Gascoigne (c. 1474-1504)

Sir Thomas Fairfax (c. 1475-1520)

Elizabeth of York (1466–1503)

Henry VII of England (1457–1509)

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (1503–1564)

Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (1503–1547)

Anne Tailboys (1510–1577)[15]

Sir Edward Dymoke (1508–1566)

Lucy Goodman[16]

William Fairfax (born 1496)[17]

Sir Nicholas Fairfax (1496–1571)[18]

Jane Palmes[19]

Joanna of Austria (1547–1578)

Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1541–1587)

Frances Dymoke (1550–1610)[20]

Sir Thomas Windebank, Clerk of the Signet to King James I (1550–1607)

John Fairfax[21]

Mary Birch[22]

Margaret Fairfax[23]

Sir William Belasyse (c. 1523-1604)

Marie de' Medici (1575–1642)

Henry IV of France (1553–1610)

Mildred Windebank (1580–1630)[24]

Robert Reade (1551–1626)[25]

Benjamin Fairfax (1592–1675)

Sarah Galliard[26]

Sir Henry Belasyse, 1st Baronet (1555–1624)[27]

Ursula Fairfax (died 1633)

Henrietta Maria of France (1609–1669)

Charles I of England (1600–1649)

George Reade, acting Governor of Virginia (1608–1671)[28]

Elizabeth Martiau (1620–1686)[29]

Benjamin Fairfax (died 1708)[30]

Bridget Stringer[31]

Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg (1577–1653)

Barbara Cholmley (d. 1619)[32]

James II of England (1633–1701)

Arabella Churchill (1648–1730)

Charles II of England (1630–1685)

Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (1640–1709)

Mildred Reade (1643–1686)[33]

Col. Augustine Warner, Speaker of Virginia House of Burgesses (1642/43-1681)

Sarah Fairfax (1654–1688)[34]

John Meadows, Vicar of Ousden (1622–1697)[35]

John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse (1614–1689)

Anne Paulet (d. c. 1694)

Henrietta FitzJames (1667–1730)

Henry Waldegrave, 1st Baron Waldegrave (1661–1689)

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton (1661–1689)

Isabella Bennet, 2nd Countess of Arlington (c. 1668-1723)

Mary Warner

John Smith[36]

Mildred Warner (1670/71-1701)

Capt. Lawrence Washington, High Sheriff of Virginia (1659–1698)

Philip Meadows, Mayor of Norwich (1679–1752)[37]

Margaret Hall (1691–1765)[38]

Barbara Belasyse (died 1740)

Sir John Webb, 3rd Baronet[39]

Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683–1757)

Henrietta Somerset (1690–1726)[40]

Mildred Smith (born 1682)[41]

Robert Porteus (c. 1679-c. 1758)[42]

Augustine Washington (1694–1743)

Mary Ball (1708–1789)

Sarah Meadows (c. 1725-1800)[43]

David Martineau, surgeon (1726–1768)[44]

Mary Webb (d. 1718/19)[45]

James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave (1684–1741)

Isabella FitzRoy (1726–1782)[46]

Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford (1718–1794)

Reverend Robert Porteus (c. 1705-c. 1754)[47]

Judith Cockayne (1702–1789)[48]

George Washington, 1st President of the U.S.A. (1732–1799)

Thomas Martineau, manufacturer of camelots and bombazine (1764–1826)[49]

Elizabeth Rankin (1771–1848)[50]

James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave (1715–1763)

Maria Walpole (1736–1807)

Mildred Porteus (1744–1815)[51]

Robert Hodgson (b. 1740)[52]

Elizabeth Martineau (1794–1850)[53]

Thomas Greenhow, surgeon, sanitary reformer (1792–1881)[54]

Anne Waldegrave (1762–1801)[55]

Lord Hugh Seymour (1759–1801)

Very Rev. Robert Hodgson (c. 1766-1844)

Mary Tucker (c. 1778-c. 1844)[56]

Frances Greenhow, educationist (1821–1892)[57]

Francis Lupton, land owner, cloth merchant (1813–1884)[58]

Horace Seymour (1791–1851)

Elizabeth Palk (1797–1827)[59]

Henrietta Mildred Hodgson (1805–1891)

Oswald Smith (1794–1863)[60]

Francis Martineau Lupton, cloth merchant, politician (1848–1921)[61]

Harriet Albina Davis (1850–1892)[62]

Adelaide Seymour (1825–1877)[63]

Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (1798–1857)

Frances Dora Smith (1833–1922)

Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1824–1904)

Olive Lupton (1881–1936)[64]

Richard Noel Middleton, solicitor, director of William Lupton and Co. (1879–1951)[65]

Charles Spencer, 6th Earl Spencer (1857–1922)

Margaret Baring (1868–1906)[66]

Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1855–1944)

Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck (1862–1938)

Peter Middleton, Pilot Instructor (1920–2010)[67]

Valerie Glassborow (1924–2006)[68]

Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer (1892–1975)

Cynthia Hamilton (1897–1972)

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900–2002)

George VI (1895–1952)

Michael Middleton, air line officer, businessman (born 1949)

Carole Goldsmith, stewardess, businessperson (b. 1955)[69]

John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (1924–1992)

Frances Ruth Roche (1936–2004)

Elizabeth II (born 1926)

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1921)

Charles, Prince of Wales (born 1948)

Diana Spencer (1961–1997)

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (born 1982)

Catherine Middleton (born 1982)

^[70]

^a Sir William Gascoigne is a 2x great grandson of Joan Beaufort. His mother, Joan Neville, is daughter of John Neville, who is son of Mary (Margaret) Ferrers, a daughter of Joan Beaufort. On his father's side, he is a 2x great grandson of William Gascoigne (father's father's father's father, all named William Gascoigne).^[71]

Ancestry chart from Rory O'Moore and Mary Crofts (Stuart)

References

1. Lundy, Darryl. "Person Page 6948". Thepeerage.com. Retrieved August 2012.
2. Cracroft-Brennan, Patrick (22 July 2013). "How royal is the royal baby?". Channel 4. Retrieved 11 October 2013. 'This ups the game a little – making the pair 11th cousins once removed.'
3. Turner, Robin (31 July 2013). "Prince George related to Llywelyn the Great, claims genealogist". WalesOnline. Media Wales. Retrieved 13 October 2013. 'This means that Prince George's parents William and Kate are related to each other through Edward IV'
4. Child, Christopher Challender (Fall 2011). "A Gratifying Discovery: Connecting Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to Sir Thomas Conyers, 9th Bt. of Horden, Durham" (PDF). American Ancestors (New England Historic Genealogical Society) 12 (4): 35–36. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
5. Perring, Rebecca. "Proof Kate Middleton IS related to Queen Mother: Duchess to view cabinet proving ancestry". UK Daily Express, 8 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
6. Cliff, Martha. "Kate really was destined for royalty! The Duchess of Cambridge shares an ancestor with the late Queen Mother historian reveals". UK Daily Mail, 9 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014. Kate's direct ancestor, Sir Thomas Blakiston Conyers, also attended the funeral of his Gibside cousin Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Mary Bowes was the great great great grandmother of the Queen Mother.
7. Richardson, Katie. "Duchess of Cambridge shares Queen Mother's County Durham ancestor according to new research". The Northern Echo, Page 7, 8 December 2014. It makes sense that Kate wore the Queen Mother's tiara when she married Prince William – both women share a great deal; Durham ancestry, the vast Gibside Estate and the same famous cabinet
8. Stieber, Zachary. "Queen Elizabeth Mother Related to Kate Middleton, New Research Shows". Epoch Times, 8 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
9. Reitwiesner, William Addams (2011). Child, Christopher Challender, ed. The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton. Scott Campbell Steward. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society. pp. 116–119. ISBN 978-0-88082-252-7.
10. "The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton" (PDF). New England Historic Genealogical Society. 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2013. Prince William and Kate Middleton are fourteenth cousins once removed through Diana, Princess of Wales (pp. 116–17), and fifteenth cousins twice removed through Charles, The Prince of Wales (pp. 118–19)
11. Cracroft-Brennan, Patrick (28 April 2011). "Royal Wedding: William and Kate are (very) distant cousins". Channel 4. Retrieved 7 October 2013. 'This makes William and Kate fourteenth cousins once removed through his mother and fifteenth cousins through his father.'
12. "George Washington 1st US President Family's 12 Generation Line of Descent from (Sir) William 'Of Gawthorpe' GASCOIGNE Knight, High Sheriff of Yo". Washington.ancestryregister.com. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
13. Lundy, Darryl. "Eleanor Poynings". The Peerage.
14. Lundy, Darryl. "Elizabeth Gascoigne". The Peerage.
15. Lundy, Darryl. "Anne Tailboys". The Peerage.
16. Lundy, Darryl. "Lucy Goodman". The Peerage.
17. Lundy, Darryl. "William Fairfax". The Peerage.
18. Lundy, Darryl. "Sir Nicholas Fairfax". The Peerage.
19. Lundy, Darryl. "Jane Palmes". The Peerage.
20. Lundy, Darryl. "Frances Dymoke". The Peerage.
21. Lundy, Darryl. "John Fairfax". The Peerage.
22. Lundy, Darryl. "Mary Birch". The Peerage.
23. Lundy, Darryl. "Margaret Fairfax". The Peerage.
24. Lundy, Darryl. "Mildred Windebank". The Peerage.
25. Lundy, Darryl. "Robert Reade". The Peerage.
26. Lundy, Darryl. "Sarah Galliard". The Peerage.
27. Lundy, Darryl. "Sir Henry Belasyse, 1st Baronet". The Peerage.
28. Col. George Reade, acting Governor of Virginia
29. Lundy, Darryl. "Elizabeth Martiau". The Peerage.
30. Lundy, Darryl. "Benjamin Fairfax". The Peerage.
31. Lundy, Darryl. "Bridget Stringer". The Peerage.
32. Lundy, Darryl. "Barbara Cholmley". The Peerage.
33. Lundy, Darryl. "Mildred Reade". The Peerage.
34. Lundy, Darryl. "Sarah Fairfax". The Peerage.
35. Lundy, Darryl. "John Meadows, Vicar of Ousden". The Peerage.
36. Lundy, Darryl. "John Smith". The Peerage.
37. Lundy, Darryl. "Philip Meadows, Mayor of Norwich". The Peerage.
38. Lundy, Darryl. "Margaret Hall". The Peerage.
39. Lundy, Darryl. "Sir John Webb, 3rd Baronet". The Peerage.
40. Lundy, Darryl. "Henrietta Somerset". The Peerage.
41. Lundy, Darryl. "Mildred Smith". The Peerage.
42. Lundy, Darryl. "Robert Porteus". The Peerage.
43. Lundy, Darryl. "Sarah Meadows". The Peerage.
44. Lundy, Darryl. "David Martineau, surgeon". The Peerage.
45. Lundy, Darryl. "Mary Webb". The Peerage.
46. Lundy, Darryl. "Isabella FitzRoy". The Peerage.
47. Lundy, Darryl. "Reverend Robert Porteus". The Peerage.
48. Lundy, Darryl. "Judith Cockayne". The Peerage.
49. Lundy, Darryl. "Thomas Martineau, manufacturer of camelots and bombazine". The Peerage.
50. Lundy, Darryl. "Elizabeth Rankin". The Peerage.
51. Lundy, Darryl. "Mildred Porteus". The Peerage.
52. Lundy, Darryl. "Robert Hodgson". The Peerage.
53. Lundy, Darryl. "Elizabeth Martineau". The Peerage.
54. Lundy, Darryl. "Thomas Greenhow, surgeon, sanitary reformer". The Peerage.
55. Lundy, Darryl. "Anne Waldegrave". The Peerage.
56. Lundy, Darryl. "Mary Tucker". The Peerage.
57. Lundy, Darryl. "Frances Greenhow, educationist". The Peerage.
58. Lundy, Darryl. "Francis Lupton, cloth merchant". The Peerage.
59. Lundy, Darryl. "Elizabeth Palk". The Peerage.
60. Lundy, Darryl. "Oswald Smith". The Peerage.
61. Lundy, Darryl. "Francis Martineau Lupton, cloth merchant, politician". The Peerage.
62. Lundy, Darryl. "Harriet Albina Davis". The Peerage.
63. Lundy, Darryl. "Adelaide Seymour". The Peerage.
64. Lundy, Darryl. "Olive Lupton". The Peerage.
65. Lundy, Darryl. "Richard Middleton, solicitor". The Peerage.
66. Lundy, Darryl. "Margaret Baring". The Peerage.
67. Lundy, Darryl. "Peter Middleton, Pilot Instructor". The Peerage.
68. Lundy, Darryl. "Valerie Glassborow". The Peerage.
69. Lundy, Darryl. "Carole Goldsmith, stewardess". The Peerage.
70. Reitwiesner, William Addams The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011
71. Lundy, Darryl. "Sir William Gascoigne". The Peerage.