This article was at the bottom of one of my file drawers. I don't know who authored it or when, but thank them for their work and agree with their comments about all of us being related to royalty.
Finding a link to them is great because something is usually written about them. Is it always correct? Goodness NO! But, at least there is the possibility that the information is correct and it usually is more complete and extends farther back in time than almost any other knowledge about our 'commoner' ancestors.
"The Associated Press carried a story recently about a man from Maine who traced his ancestry to King Egbert of England as well as all of the royal houses of Europe. The article makes it sound like something rather unusual. My question is, “So what? Almost everyone else can do the same.”
We all have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. To determine the number of ancestors you have, all you have to do is grab a calculator and determine how many generations you wish to go back. That should easy. Or is it?
For instance, here is a simple chart showing the number of ancestors you have, assuming an average of one generation every twenty-five years:
Number of generations | Approximate years | Ancestors in this generation | Total ancestors |
|
|
|
|
1 | 25 | 2 | 2 |
2 | 50 | 4 | 6 |
3 | 75 | 8 | 12 |
4 | 100 | 16 | 24 |
5 | 125 | 32 | 48 |
6 | 150 | 64 | 96 |
7 | 175 | 128 | 192 |
8 | 200 | 256 | 384 |
9 | 225 | 512 | 768 |
10 | 250 | 1,024 | 1,536 |
11 | 275 | 2,048 | 3,072 |
12 | 300 | 4,096 | 6,144 |
13 | 325 | 8,192 | 12,288 |
14 | 350 | 16,384 | 24,576 |
15 | 375 | 32,768 | 49,152 |
16 | 400 | 65,536 | 98,304 |
17 | 425 | 131,072 | 196,608 |
18 | 450 | 262,144 | 393,216 |
19 | 475 | 524,288 | 786,432 |
20 | 500 | 1,048,576 | 1,572,864 |
21 | 525 | 2,097,152 | 3,145,728 |
22 | 550 | 4,194,304 | 6,291,456 |
23 | 575 | 8,388,608 | 12,582,912 |
24 | 600 | 16,777,216 | 25,165,824 |
25 | 625 | 33,554,432 | 50,331,648 |
26 | 650 | 67,108,864 | 100,663,296 |
27 | 675 | 134,217,728 | 201,326,592 |
28 | 700 | 268,435,456 | 402,653,184 |
29 | 725 | 536,870,912 | 805,306,368 |
30 | 750 | 1,073,741,824 | 1,610,612,736 |
31 | 775 | 2,147,483,648 | 3,221,225,472 |
32 | 800 | 4,294,967,296 | 6,442,450,944 |
33 | 825 | 8,589,934,592 | 12,884,901,888 |
34 | 850 | 17,179,869,184 | 25,769,803,776 |
35 | 875 | 34,359,738,368 | 51,539,607,552 |
36 | 900 | 68,719,476,736 | 103,079,215,104 |
37 | 925 | 137,438,953,472 | 206,158,430,208 |
38 | 950 | 274,877,906,944 | 412,316,860,416 |
39 | 975 | 549,755,813,888 | 824,633,720,832 |
40 | 1,000 | 1,099,511,627,776 | 1,649,267,441,664 |
As you can see, in the last 1,000 years you have a bit more than one and a half trillion ancestors. There is only one problem with this: that number far exceeds the total number of people who have ever lived on the face of the earth!
In fact, there are duplicates in your family tree. If you were able to identify every single person in your family tree, you would find that many ancestors of a few hundred years ago would show up time and time again. This is inbreeding, and we all have it in our family trees. There are no exceptions; the mathematics involved makes it obvious that we are all the products of inbreeding.
With a theoretical (although impractical) one and a half trillion ancestors in the past 1,000 years, what are the odds that you have royal ancestry? About 99.9999% per cent. Many of the royals had large families with children, grandchildren, and further descendants who were sent far and wide to marry other nobility. In turn, their descendants married minor nobility and wealthy merchants and their children... so on and so forth. Once you can document one royal ancestor, you will probably find hundreds more, thanks to the excellent records kept of nobility marriages.
Now let’s go the other way: let’s look at a hypothetical individual from 750 years ago and identify the number of descendants he or she has. The numbers are not as mathematically precise since each person has a variable number of descendants. Sociologists tell us that families of many years ago were typically larger than those of today. Indeed, history books record that a few kings and other prominent men often had 50 or more children, thanks to multiple wives. Not everyone had children, however. Many people had zero children. For this exercise, I will pick an average number of five children per family:
Number of generations | Approximate years | Descendants in this generation | Total descendants |
|
|
|
|
1 | 25 | 5 | 5 |
2 | 50 | 25 | 30 |
3 | 75 | 125 | 155 |
4 | 100 | 625 | 780 |
5 | 125 | 3,125 | 3,905 |
6 | 150 | 15,625 | 19,530 |
7 | 175 | 78,125 | 97,655 |
8 | 200 | 390,625 | 488,280 |
9 | 225 | 1,953,125 | 2,441,405 |
10 | 250 | 9,765,625 | 12,207,030 |
11 | 275 | 48,828,125 | 61,035,155 |
12 | 300 | 244,140,625 | 305,175,780 |
13 | 325 | 1,220,703,125 | 1,525,878,905 |
14 | 350 | 6,103,515,625 | 7,629,394,530 |
15 | 375 | 30,517,578,125 | 38,146,972,655 |
16 | 400 | 152,587,890,625 | 190,734,863,280 |
17 | 425 | 762,939,453,125 | 953,674,316,405 |
18 | 450 | 3,814,697,265,625 | 4,768,371,582,030 |
19 | 475 | 19,073,486,328,125 | 23,841,857,910,155 |
20 | 500 | 95,367,431,640,625 | 119,209,289,550,780 |
21 | 525 | 476,837,158,203,125 | 596,046,447,753,905 |
22 | 550 | 2,384,185,791,015,620 | 2,980,232,238,769,530 |
23 | 575 | 11,920,928,955,078,100 | 14,901,161,193,847,700 |
24 | 600 | 59,604,644,775,390,600 | 74,505,805,969,238,300 |
25 | 625 | 298,023,223,876,953,000 | 372,529,029,846,191,000 |
26 | 650 | 1,490,116,119,384,770,000 | 1,862,645,149,230,960,000 |
27 | 675 | 7,450,580,596,923,830,000 | 9,313,225,746,154,780,000 |
28 | 700 | 37,252,902,984,619,100,000 | 46,566,128,730,773,900,000 |
29 | 725 | 186,264,514,923,096,000,000 | 232,830,643,653,870,000,000 |
30 | 750 | 931,322,574,615,478,000,000 | 1,164,153,218,269,350,000,000 |
Your ancestor of 750 years ago had more than a sextillion descendants! Again, this will be true of each king and peasant alike. While this may be claimed as a mathematical “fact,” it is obviously impossible. Again, there have not been that many people in the world.
The challenge is to find your royal ancestors. Documentation of the royal families is plentiful, but finding your link back through many generations of commoners may be a challenge. While not every one of us will ever be able to prove descent from royalty, the odds are overwhelming that we all have such connections, documented or not. You just need to spend some time to find them!"