A direct descendant of the king?

Question

A friend of mine tells me he's a direct descendant of King Richard III (I think - I was in the pub at the time).

I reckon that since King Ricky died in 1485 and assuming for calculation purposes that each generation is 25 years and has two kids, that's 21 generations (at least) and so about 2^21 descendants.

That's over 2 million descendants. OK, there will be some recombination in this family tree and only the current few generations will be still alive, but that must give at least half a million living descendants, surely.

But what's really worrying me is this 'direct descendant' bit. What's a direct descendant? What's an indirect descendant?

Answer 1

direct is like he is the son of the daughter of the son of the king. it doesn't include aunts and uncles and second cousins. if it does, then, that is indirect

Answer 2

I understand a direct descendant means you are in the direct line (YDNA line). Your father, grandfather, great grandfather etc.

Whereas you are a linear descendant of your great great uncles etc.

Answer 3

with respect, I am not in agreement that direct only means male lines.

Direct (my definition) is child of a child of child.... blah blah.

My comparison is that direct desc. come from children on down. RELATED would be descending from (say) King Ricky's siblings of either s*x.  I have never heard the term 'indirect' descendant.

I'd agree that male lines normally are the ones to inheirit. However, female lines are direct, to me, as well... as long as you are speaking of parent to child down.

Answer 4

Richard's only child - Edward of Middeham died in 1484 - at the age of 11, so no direct decendants exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_of_M...

So your mate is telling you porkies - I reckon he read 'A Sprig of Broom' as a kid & has taken the story to heart

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sprig-Broom-Puff...

Edit:  I know about the illegitimate offspring, but they all died without issue.  The only exception is the character that a sprig of broom is losely based on - Richard Plantagenet, the master builder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pla...

Answer 5

A direct descendant is on the male line only, father, sons, grandsons , great grandsons and so on, down until today.

It cannot be on the female line at all because daughters marry out of the "family" and have children who then become descendants of their husband's families.

An indirect descendant is pretty well anyone who can trace some sort of a lineage back, with the exception of course, of those who are in the direct male line, because they are the direct descendants.

Edit : A descendant through the female line cannot possibly be of direct, or lineal descendant, a daughter can only be a direct descendant of her father, her children are direct descendants of her husband and his family, and are indirect descendants of their paternal grandfathers. The line of descent is broken each time a female marries and has children.

Dictionary definition of direct descent:

Being of unbroken descent; lineal: a direct descendant of the monarch.

In a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child