The Royal Baby: Genealogical Connections from the New England Historic Genealogical Society

The Royal Baby: Genealogical Connections

by Christopher C. Child, Genealogist of the Newbury Street Press, and Scott C. Steward, Editor-in-Chief

His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, is related to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, both Roosevelt and Bush presidents, and President Barack Obama, among many others. The royal baby is also a cousin of the wives of seven presidents, including Nancy Reagan. Other notable American kin include the actors Kevin Bacon and Humphrey Bogart; television anchorman Anderson Cooper; explorer Meriwether Lewis; poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; and celebrity chef Julia Child.

More than any other potential British monarch, the House of Windsor's newest member has relatives in every walk of British life, from the Prince and late Princess of Wales's royal and noble kin to the upper middle class and working class families of the Duchess of Cambridge's parents.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are themselves fifteenth cousins through Sir Thomas Fairfax, who died during the reign of Henry VIII.  A branch of this family moved to Virginia in the mid-seventeenth century, and many Americans are descended from the Fairfaxes.

Learn more about the newest member of the British royal family at American Ancestors.org/royal-celebration.  Explore the royal child's Presidential and celebrity connections, test your knowledge of British royalty with trivia, and match photos of the baby's living relatives to his family tree.

Two additional sites may be of interest.  The Bridgeman Art Library offers an online gallery that features paintings and photographs of British monarchs and their children in their younger years.  The official website of the British monarchy is here.

Read about Princess Diana's ancestry:  The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales for Twelve Generations. 

posted by mb