The Problem with Hereditary Aristocracy...

[shipperx]

I did do a small "heh" at reading this article on Richard III's bones.

The bones of the king under the car park have delivered further shocks, 527 years after his death and more than two years after his remains were discovered in Leicester: Richard III was a blue-eyed blond, and the present Queen may not be descended from John of Gaunt and Edward III, the lineage on which the Tudor claim to the throne originated.
Five anonymous living donors, all members of the extended family of the present Duke of Beaufort, who claim descent from both the Plantagenets and Tudors through the children of John of Gaunt, gave DNA samples which should have matched Y chromosomes extracted from Richard’s bones. But none did.

Since Richard’s identity was proved by his mitochondrial DNA, handed down in an unbroken chain through the female line from his sister to two living relatives, the conclusion is stark: there is a break in the claimed line of Beaufort descent, what the scientists described as “a false paternity event”, which may also affect the ancestry of their distant cousins, the Windsors.

Oops...? ;)

the Tudors did back up their claim to the throne through descent from John of Gaunt, son of Edward III and father of Henry IV – and ancestor of the Tudor dynasty through his legitimised Beaufort children after he married his mistress Katherine Swynford.{...}There are, however, at least two breaks in the line. The most significant would be if John of Gaunt were not the son of Edward III – which enemies suggested in his lifetime – which would affect the ancestry of the Tudors, Stuarts and Windsors

And another Oops! later in the article:

The five supposed cousins who gave their DNA are not descended from Edward III, or they would share Richard’s Y chromosomes, but one of the five is also not descended from the man who should be their more recent common ancestor, the 18th-century Henry Somerset, fifth Duke of Beaufort. “We actually went to his home and sat him down,” Schürer said. “It’s not the sort of news you want to deliver by email.”

Comments

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

That's fascinating. I think we can all take our family trees with a grain of salt.

[molliemole.livejournal.com]

Who knew genealogy could be so exciting? We genealogists, that's who.

[elsaf]

Huge irony. Barack Obama IS related to Dick Cheney, but the modern royals AREN'T actually related to the Plantagenets. I'll tell you, DNA can be a b*tch. :-)

It hardly matters, though. Henry Tudor (aka Henry VII) defeated Richard III decisively (his death being truly decisive) and ended the War of the Roses. Therefore, he's the real king and the Windsors can (by the definition of such things) claim royalty by being descended from him, even if they can't really go back any farther than that.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

But Harry will never have a DNA test. (Nor should he. Seriously, it does not matter.)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

You get a DNA test, you never know what you're going to find out. Petzi Sis and I certainly had several surprises.