Meghan Markel ..Markle ?

I have been tracing my family history for decades, starting with helping my Mum when she decided to do it (I was eight at the time and she took me along for company as I kept quiet and didn't fidget). The furthest traceable connection I have is the late 1600's - I have seen/spoken to many people whose trees boast connections back to before records were even kept! Many of these trees are constructed on the basis that the ancestor was called Henry/John/Adam/George/James and lived in the general area so must be a descendant of Lord/Sir//King/etc etc etc. Personally if I cannot find at least two pieces of evidence that 'prove' a connection it doesn't get added to my tree. PS - if any of you are related to the Menzies family of Durisdeer/Rigghouse/Enterkinfoot in Dumfriesshire and have a Menzies ancestor who married a Shankland I would love to hear from you!

Andrew Morton - I can feel another book coming on here.

I don't think Meghan herself has proclaimed this - it seems to be Andrew Morton who has traced her lineage back.

Maybe it is just wishful thinking complete lies.
My father in law created a new heritage for himself. He hurt a lot of his family by doing denying his roots.

My husbands family trace back as Londeners as far back as is possible. (Cousin did the research ).
There's hardly a foot been put outside Westminster by any of them.

However in his mid fifties my late father in law suddenly "became" Scottish. Took to wearing a kilt . It was hilarious.
Various older members of his family treated him like a rather silly school boy who was a fantasist. We were all quite bemused.
He couldn't be persuaded out of it.

The cringe worthy moment came at his sixtieth birthday party when a haggis was rolled in on a trolley and he recited the address in the worst Scottish accent you would ever hear. His own dear mother was deeply embarrassed whilst us younger folks were disgusted at his childish behaviour.

Father in law had decided that his great grandfather was a Wallace who had walked down to London from Scotland. No evidence of this. The grandfather in question owned a horse yard in London and had never set foot outside his borough.

My father in law was set to gain in certain social circles by this pretence.
He cared not one jot for his family.

It was in The Australian too (but you have to pay to access it).

PaddyAnn the English public couldn't care less what is in the Scottish news

Yes, Robert the Bruce had children: King David II of Scotland, Majorie, who died after a miscarriage brought on by a fall from her horse and Matilda. We used to pass the cairn marking the spot where Marjorie came to grief when going to Renfrew airport in the days before what is now called Glasgow airport was built at Abbotsinch. She is buried in Paisley Abbey like James II if I remember right.
Robert Steward was her son, and he had quite a lot of descendents, amongst them the Steward kings of Scotland and England, and via the houses of Orange and Hanover the present Queen. I think Matilda probably had children too, David Bruce died childless.

Well I am Scottish, and wish the young couple all the happiness they can get. I think it is sad that media articles seem to affect how people see Meghan. She has no control over what piffle they write about her and is probably having a good giggle about it.

Hello Jallima1108, welcome to the family. ?

Old Charlemagne must have got about a bit it seems

I am sure she is. My husband comes form a long line of working class bods, but is also a descendant of the Lord chancellor of Scotland in the 16th century. We all have such heritage if we look far enough back.

The answer was all of them because just about everyone in Europe is descended from Charlemagne.
Oh dear, my family is not so unique then

I suppose it is to give her a 'qualification' (as if one was needed) to belong to the royal family and also counters her critics regarding her ethnicity. Neither of these things bother me. I think she's a lovely girl.

I recall a program quiz that once asked which of several very prominent people was descended from Charlemagne. The answer was all of them because just about everyone in Europe is descended from Charlemagne.

When you look at the generation multiplier it is just silly claiming specific ancestors unless the lineage is extremely well documented in EVERY generation which is very, very rare unless a family has been prominent for many centuries. Without that documentation it is impossible to make a claim with any degree of certainty. Anything else is just spin.

If you go back 10 generations we all have 1024 ancestors and at 20 generations we all have about a million ancestors. Estimates suggest the population of the British Isles in the year 1200 was about 3 million so there is a lot of interconnectedness there. We are all brothers, sisters and cousins somewhere along the line. I think that is something to be celebrated.

I guess we are all related to each other if we go far enough back. ??

Scottish and couldn’t care less.

The Act of Union some 100 years later was slightly more complicated!!!

James V1th was the gt grandson of Henry V111th's eldest sister who married James 1Vth of Scotland. This made him the next in line to the English throne after the death of Elizabeth 1st. (The Greys were decended from H.111 younger sister.) Nobody 'conquered' anybody, it was the line of succession, pure and simple.

well done Jalima1108 thats a fact that has escaped most people for centuries .They tend to think we were conquered and England is the boss instead of a supposed EQUAL partner .

Kind of mutual consent! James V1th of Scotland was quite happy to become James 1st of England, and England was quite happy to have him! Interestingly James only visited Scotland once after he came South. Mind you it was a long way!!

I just remember that it wasn't us who took over the Scots .....

There wasn't anyone else!! Well, except the Greys, and we all know what happened to poor Jane!!

We were taken over by the Scots in 1603.

But Edingburgh is is Scotland . I am thankful it will not be Duke of Cardiff .

Edward will be the next duke of Edingburgh

Perhaps it stems from the days when the Scottish King took over the English throne When!