Thursday, May 17, 2018

I Didn't Get an Invitation to My Cousins' Wedding

Was it lost in the mail?  Maybe it will come after the event.  Drat.

Well, I really didn't expect to receive an invitation to the wedding of my cousins, Henry Windsor and Meghan Markle.  But the wedding this weekend of Meghan and Harry in England sparked my curiosity - am I related to both of them?


I knew that I was related to Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry through English royalty with a common ancestor back in the 1500s.  However, I had not investigated a relationship with Princess Diana, mother of William and Harry.  Do I have a commoner relationship with Harry?

But what about Meghan Markle?  Do I have any relationship with her?

I checked Geni, FamilySearch Family Tree and WikiTree.  They each gave me different answers.  I like the WikiTree presentation the best and I think that relationships are better proven there.

1)  Am I related to Prince Harry?  WikiTree says my closest relationship is:


According to WikiTree, I am a 9th cousin twice removed to Prince Harry.  The most recent common ancestor is Michael Newbold (1623-1693) who came to New Jersey around the 1680s.  My line goes through Mary Newbold (1661-1715) who married Jediah Higgins in 1684, and Harry's line goes through Michael Newbold (1667-????).

2)  Am I related to Meghan Markle?  WikiTree says my closest relationship is:


According to WikiTree, Meghan and I are 10th cousins.  Our most recent common ancestor is Thomas Carter (1610-1676) who resided in Salisbury, Massachusetts.  My line goes through son John Carter (1650-1697), and Meghan's line goes through Abigail Carter (1653-1676) who married Stephen Flanders.

3)  I also wondered if perhaps Prince Harry and Meghan had common ancestors.  I used the WikiTree relationship calculator and determined that they do not, at least based on the current WikiTree profiles.

4)  I wish I had done this study back in December.  Perhaps I would have received an invitation to the wedding because of it - publicity you know, like: "a semi-famous (in his own mind!) geneablogger in San Diego is related to both parties."  Several years ago, I also publicized my relationships to George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and did not receive invitations to the White House.

5)  Oh well!  I hope my grandkids call this weekend and I can tell them that Harry and Meghan are their cousins too.

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1 comment:

Barb said...

I'm so sorry to hear they didn't invite you! Wonder if I'm "related" too - don't feel to bad, I didn't get an invite either.