Cuzzin Liz Comes to Town

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Have y'all met my Cuzzin Liz?

See any family resemblance?
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It's been never ages since we've talked. But I understand. She's a busy gal, with all the reignin' and crown-wearin' and purse-carryin' and walkabouts she's got on her busy schedule. Bless her pea-pickin' heart. But today she's decided to come visit me in this-here my hometown. How sweet of her. But, sheeooot, I reckon my invitation to the big party got lost in the mail. And I can't seem to find her cell phone number. Dang....

Seriously, though -- where do I get the audacity to be so familiar with Britain's reigning monarch?

It goes back to a couple years ago, when my dad was deep in the throws of family genealogy. We'd about exhausted the available information on my dad's paternal side of the family, and alas, our surname's research only goes back as far as my paternal great-grandfather. Beyond him, that branch of the family tree comes to a frustratingly abrupt halt, mired in the muck and confusion of muddled Danish and German ancestry, with little hope of tracing him further back.

And so, instead, my dad began enthusiastically researching my mom's side of the family. In the process, he stumbled upon another genealogist in her family who had traced the line directly back to one Owen Tudor, who, it turns out, is my 18th great-grandfather. Old Owen was also the great-grandfather of Henry VIII, who, according to the relationship calculator on my genealogy software, is my second cousin, eighteen times removed. (That's a heck of a lot of removin'!)

Cuzzin Hank
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And thanks again to grandpa Owen, (who, poor fella, lost his head in 1461 during the War of the Roses), I'm related to the current Queen of England -- Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II. She's my 17th cousin, twice removed.

That, and $3.62, will buy me a Grande Mocha Frappuccino at Starbucks.

The Queen and I -- we're like >this< - thick as thieves. And yet I'm still awaiting her phone call, inviting me to high tea....

The story gets better. Owen Tudor's grandson, John Grey, married his fifth cousin, Anne Grey, (they're my 16th great-grandparents). Anne is a direct descendent of King Henry II and Princess Eleanor of Aquitaine, (they're her 7th great-grandparents), which makes them my 25th great-grandparents.

Grandma Eleanor was a "handsome" woman
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(Confused yet? Bored yet? Hang with me...).

Grandma Eleanor has a crazy lineage herself. Among her (and my) ancestors are William the Conqueror (my 28th ggf) and the cousin-uncle he ousted in 1066 - King Edward III -- the Confessor, (my 30th great-grand uncle). Uncle Ed was later canonized a saint by the Catholic church. (Coincidentally, I grew up going to St. Edward the Confessor parochial school and Catholic church, where my parents still attend mass.)

Uncle Ed*

Things get crazier still. Eleanor has some Jewish ancestry, most notably King Jeconiah of Judah, her 35th (and my 62nd) great-grandfather. King Jeconiah is listed in the genealogy of Christ, in Matthew 1:11-12. King Jeconiah's son and grandson, Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, both also listed in the Matthew 1 genealogy, are also listed in Luke's genealogy of Christ, which goes all the way back to Adam.

I am, therefore, a direct descendent of Adam....

...JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET!


So, I suppose that's not going to open any doors for me at Buckingham Palace.

Sigh....

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