My grandma has a theory that we are illegitimately descended from royalty...?

Question

Is there anyway I could check? Not that it would effect me because it would be illigitimate. Thanks :)

Answer 1

I think it's very possible for a lot of people to be descended from royalty. A lot of royal lines have only been recorded from the middle ages on. Back in the day,the king could have any woman he wanted-so I would imagine a lot of pretty gals had illegitimate children. Their children wouldn't be recorded in any way,but it's just common sense. As time went on and land became more valuable,royalty consolidated their power by inner breeding and political alliances. I had a great aunt that had too much money and time on her hands that researched our family history in England, and claimed we were descended from Alfred the Great through an illegitimate child. I think it's hilarious-me and how many million people!

Answer 2

Researching family history can be a lot of work, especially if your family has ever immigrated or moved from their town of origin.

But it can also be fun and lead to lots of interesting discoveries.

In previous times, royal families were a lot bigger than they are today (almost all families were!), so there were always plenty of kids.

Also, royal men were never shy about having mistresses and ladies on the side, and there are plenty of stories to suggest royal ladies sometimes enjoyed the same sort of naughtiness, so there is every chance the story handed down in your family could be true.

Finding the facts would be the challenge!

Yahoo!Answers has a genealogy section, you could start by asking there if anyone knows what your next step should be.

Good luck! :-)

Answer 3

You're going to have to use your own personal research. You can use websites like genealogy.com to research your family tree and find relatives. When you go back far enough in history then you're going to have to consult birth/christening records at actual parish offices.

As for you being descended from royalty, it's most certainly a possibility. Many kings in European history sired illegitimate children through their mistresses.  These children were normally married off into lesser noble families and/or wealthy merchant families.  From there, their descendants would either marry up or down the social ladder, so there are A LOT of people today who can count themselves as a descendant of royalty, (even though it is illegitimate)

My siblings and I researched our family tree earlier this summer and discovered we're descended from King Charles II of Great Britain, through one of his numerous illegitimate children, on our father's side!

So your grand mother's theory might well be true.  

Good Luck with your research!