For those interested and upon the birth of the newest British Royal:
The newborn son of Prince William and Catherine is the 33rd generation from King William the Conqueror who assumed the English throne on December 25, 1066. Here is the unbroken line:
Newborn son (not yet named)
William – father
Charles – Grandfather
Queen Elizabeth II – Great Grandmother
King George VI – Great x2 Grandfather
King George V – Great x3 Grandfather
King Edward VII – Great x4 Grandfather
Queen Victoria – Great x5 Grandmother
Prince Edward – Great x6 Grandfather (George II’s 3rd son)
King George III – Great x7 Grandfather
Prince Frederick – Great x8 Grandfather (pre-deceased George II)
King George II – Great x9 Grandfather
King George I – Great x10 Grandfather
Sophia of Hannover – Great x11 Grandmother
Elizabeth Stuart – Great x12 Grandmother (James I’s daughter)
King James I – Great x13 Grandfather
Mary Queen of Scots – Great x14 Grandmother
James V of Scotland – Great x15 Grandfather
Margaret Tudor – Great x16 Grandmother (Henry VII’s daughter)
King Henry VII Tudor – Great x17 Grandfather
Margaret Beaufort – Great x18 Grandmother
John, Duke of Somerset – Great x19 Grandfather
John, Earl of Somerset – Great x20 Grandfather
John of Gaunt – Great x21 Grandfather (Edward III’s 4th son)
Elizabeth of York – Great x17 Grandmother
King Edward VI – Great x18 Grandfather
Richard, Duke of York Great x19 Grandfather
Richard, Earl of Cambridge – Great x20 Grandfather
Edmund, Duke of York – Great x21 Grandfather (Edward III’s 5th son)
King Edward III – Great x22 Grandfather
King Edward II – Great x23 Grandfather
King Edward I – Great x24 Grandfather
King Henry III – Great x25 Grandfather
King John – Great x26 Grandfather
King Henry II – Great x27 Grandfather
Queen Matilda – Great x28 Grandmother
King Henry I – Great x29 Grandfather
King William I the Conqueror Great x30 Grandfather
Note the omission of Edward VIII; William IV; George IV; William III; the Stuarts, except for James I; the Tudors, except for Henry VII; Richard III; the Lancasters; Richard II, Richard I Lionheart; Stephen; and William II; as they are all collateral, not direct ancestors. There are also two other lines on the distaff side between Edward III and Edward IV (cousins marrying cousins). This was the time of the so-called War of the Roses, more accurately named the Cousins’ Wars. The Tudor line died with Queen Elizabeth I. The Stuart line ended with Queen Anne’s death, because the closest Protestant descendant of James I was George, Elector of Hannover (the Act of Settlement of 1701 barred Catholics from the throne).
Matilda was named by Henry II to succeed him as Queen, but the barons would not accept her because she was a woman, and they crowned Stephen of Blois. That caused a 18 year civil war known as the Anarchy, that ended when the barons accepted her son Henry as king upon Stephen’s death. He conveniently died a year later.