The Thirty-third Generation

For those interested and upon the birth of the newest British Royal:

The newborn son of Prince William and Catherine is the 33^rd 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 3^rd 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 4^th 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 5^th 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.