Our common ancestors - English Royal family - Contents

House of Hanover

Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover,
mar Princess Sophia of the Palatinate [grand-dau of James I]
and had issue:

1. George I.
   Reigned 1714-1727.
   Ancestor of all later monarchs.

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The Royal line is the product of a series of political decisions

The present Royal family are a pretty much arbitrary selection of the millions of known, provable descendants of William the Conqueror.

To be specific, to get to the present Royal family from Edward III, the Royal line had to pass through female lines no less than 7 times. Most times the surname changed, though sometimes the wife's surname was kept. The 7 changes into female lines were:

1. Elizabeth of York.
2. Margaret Tudor.
3. Mary, Queen of Scots.
4. Elizabeth Stuart.
5. Princess Sophia of the Palatinate.
6. Victoria.
7. Elizabeth II.

This is a lot of female lines and name changes. For comparison:

• My descent from Edward III also involves 7 passes through female lines.
• My wife's descent from Edward III involves only 5 passes through female lines.
• In the Neville family are people whose descent from Edward III involves only 1 pass through a female line.
• And in the Somerset family are people with a direct male-line descent from Edward III and the medieval House of Plantagenet (no passes at all through female lines).

In short, the current Royal line is the product of a series of political decisions rather than being ordained naturally by descent. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in the extraordinary succession of the House of Hanover.