# The reign of King Charles III of the United Kingdom **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 8, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232 "2022-09-08T18:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 59
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1164 "2024-01-20T17:07:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > rather than the rare exception at least for people in the rich world? I’m not sure that there is a different dynamic for rich people. The impetus for intermarriage is whether the individual is in a small group of people, and that defines rich people. Yes, they are much more mobile, but the group of people that they socialise with is defined by their money. Would Ivanka Trump have ever met and married a plumber? Not likely; she would only want to marry someone with money. After all, pre-industrial revolution, the richest group was likely royalty, which is being discussed in this case because they intermarried. Substitute “rich” for “royalty” and you may have a similar dynamic today. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1165 "2024-01-20T17:13:44Z")
By “rich world” I meant the places where people aren’t still living in huts in their ancestral villages. Countries with modern economies mostly. I did not mean the top 1% of the world’s wealthy families. IOW most of North America, most of Europe, a decent chunk of Asia and Central / South America but by no means all. But not much of e.g. Afghanistan, Mali, or Mongolia. A few spots and a couple of big cities in those countries yes sorta, but not the bulk of that tier of countries. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1166 "2024-01-20T17:54:09Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > How sure can we even be about parentage going back three or four generations? Of all of those daddies, one or two might be different? Decades ago, way before the Human Genome Project was even launched, **DesertWife** spent time in her graduate years doing the grunt work in a DNA research study. She said a lot more often than you’d think possible the markers would show one of the parents was not the one in the questionnaire. This would not be disclosed to the subject. The Iowa Amish volunteered a lot for the study and they never found any surprises with their DNA. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1167 "2024-01-20T20:57:22Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Huh. It’s true for me, but it’s pulling ancestors from three UK countries and four continental countries, and my parents are from different countries. Lots of exogamy. > > So are we saying Charles’s amount of pedigree collapse IS typical? I am just shocked that anyone knows for sure 8 generations back, and that there was absolutely no pedigree collapse in those 8. Especially for the UK. Yeah, about typical for England. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1168 "2024-01-20T21:07:13Z")
It took quite a lot of genealogy research to complete the list. But I assumed it was typical, and have learned something! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1169 "2024-01-20T21:13:35Z")
I’ve not done the genealogical research, but I know that two of my great-grandparents came from the same small town in Scotland. He emigrated first, homesteaded, and then brought her to Canada. I would be very surprised if they had absolutely no family relationship prior to their marriage. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1170 "2024-01-20T22:46:29Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > very surprised if they had absolutely no family relationship prior to their marriage. So that’s what those crazy kids called it back in the day. “Family relationship”. I’d wondered. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1171 "2024-01-21T02:23:41Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > > [@doreen](#): > > > > I had to stop adding people to the tree because I already have 800 something people in it > > If you look back far enough, and wide enough, geneology gets silly.For example: > Albert Einstein is related to Donald Trump. Yes, seriously. > > Here’s how I know: > I am listed on a huge family tree which was compiled by a total stranger to me, and contains 1500 of his relatives . The “root” of the tree is this guy’s great-great-grandfather in Germany, 1870 ish, who had 5 kids, who each had 5 kids, etc. > All this data is all kept on a website, and the software looks for connections wherever the computer can find them. The website has sent me a diagram of a family tree with my name at the top, and Albert Einstein at the bottom, and with 22 people between us. > > Similarly, the website notified me of the same thing with Donald Trump, listing about 20 branches between Trump’s name and mine. > All of this is because I am married to someone with German grandparents , and of course Trump and Einstein also have roots in Germany. > > So, yes, folks…Albert Einstein and Donald Trump are related! > I’m going to guess that everybody in modern Germany is related to everybody else in Germany, if you cast your net wide enough. When I played around with Ancestry I realized that if you could link to a U.S. president it made things much easier. Every president has their genealogy extensively mapped out. Someone has already done the work for you. Family lore said that a great aunt of mine had a genealogist make a family tree and it said we were related to Lincoln. Everyone laughed and said of course they have to have someone famous in there. In the family he is referred to as Uncle Abe. Then ancestry came along and yep there he is. Once I had a common name I could link to Lincoln and his entire tree all the way back to Edward I. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1172 "2024-01-21T02:32:11Z")
Yep. I’m very proud of Cousin Barack! (my father’s 10th cousin—our mutual ancestor died in Virginia before the American Revolution). It’s kind of a cool factoid, but given the finite number of chromosomes in the human body and their tendency to recombine, I imagine that we have neither genetic material nor family culture in common at this point, so being “related” is utterly meaningless. But I’m still a bit miffed that in eight, he didn’t _once_ invite me to the White House on Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1173 "2024-01-21T03:30:36Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > But I’m still a bit miffed that in eight, he didn’t _once_ invite me to the White House on Thanksgiving. He probably only got his seventh cousins covered before the dining table was full. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1174 "2024-01-21T05:53:14Z")
Even the kid’s table? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1175 "2024-01-21T11:53:51Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Once I had a common name I could link to Lincoln and his entire tree all the way back to Edward I. Why stop with Edward? Once you get to the English Royal line, it goes back to the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon kings. Loach, you’re descended from Wotan! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1176 "2024-01-21T22:12:40Z")
I’m aware. Being the great-x grandson of the bad guy in _Braveheart_ is cool enough. A good website to see connections is famouskin .com. It’s a little clunky but has decent information. I’m related to Longshanks through Hugh Le DeSpenser which means I’m related to everyone famous from Princess Diana to H.H. Holmes (but not directly). It’s fun that grandpa was drawn and quartered for treason. [![](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Despenser_the_Younger#/media/File%3ABNMsFr2643FroissartFol97vExecHughDespenser.jpg) ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Despenser_the_Younger#/media/File%3ABNMsFr2643FroissartFol97vExecHughDespenser.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1177 "2024-01-21T22:30:32Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It’s fun that grandpa was drawn and quartered for treason. Well, not for grandpa. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1178 "2024-01-22T01:04:20Z")
Charles can’t pass on hemophilia because it is passed from female ancestors, and they don’t suffer from it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1179 "2024-01-22T01:12:53Z")
I’ve seen an article somewhere [excellent cite!] that speculated Victoria’s haemophilia gene was a random mutation, because there were no signs of it in her ancestral tree. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1180 "2024-01-22T03:17:12Z")
This was how it was brought out in Robert Massie’s book Nicholas and Alexandra. Massie had reason to be interested in the disease because his son was/is? hemophiliac. We have a case in my own family, a boy who is the grandson of a first cousin of mine. No known history in the female line before this kid. But he does fairly well because of new medicines that were not available a couple generations ago. Anybody who says things were better “in the good old days” is crazy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1181 "2024-01-22T05:04:06Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Once you get to the English Royal line, it goes back to the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon kings. Sorta, it has some pretty big breaks. Henry VI was not in direct line of succession, in fact he had to kill off a LOT of kids to make his throne secure. And James 1 wasnt either. There have been several times they had to dig up someone fairly far removed. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1182 "2024-01-22T08:21:52Z")
Do you mean Henry VII? His claim as “last Lancastrian standing” derived from his mother’s descent from Edward III, and yes, the connections from him to the Stuarts, and from them to the Hanoverians, derived from the female line (Henry VII’s daughter and 4xgreat-grand-daughter). But then, so did the entire Plantagenet succession, through Matilda. And ultimately “legitimacy” derived from inheritance from a conqueror in battle, be that Henry VII, Edward III or William the Conqueror, or more recently, a majority in the House of Commons. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232/1183 "2024-01-22T08:50:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sorta, it has some pretty big breaks. There were dynastic breaks, but as @PatrickLondon says, the ones who succeeded always had a claim based on heredity. Every English and then every British monarch since 1087 has been descended from William the Conqueror, and every one since 1135 has been descended from the pre-Norman Anglo-Saxon royal family. (assuming, of course, that in that thousand year stretch there were no “ahem” irregularities.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232.md?page=58) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-reign-of-king-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom/971232.md?page=60)