11-17-2021, 01:09 AM
I feel that this is something I must do some day, even if I can't realistically afford it now. I have considerable interest in my family tree and have close to 25 000 people in my family tree at this time, going back to 40 BC (if Welsh 'records' are to be believed, including considerable numbers of European royalty.
I feel it is a good joke that I can consider myself a 'distant' member of the British royal family, and I treat it that way. If I rolled up at Buckingham Palace and said, "G'day, guys, I'd like to see my cousin 10 time removed, Lilibet, they'd throw me out the door.
Besides, I think I have a better claim to the French throne: there is a lot less competition.
One thing I have learnt is that I'm a walking European Union: there are only a handful out countries that I haven't found ancestors in yet (Finland, Albania, Romania), but I am working on that ...
One interesting thing I have learnt is that many of my Scottish ancestors weren't all that Scottish. Close to half of them were Normans who came to Scotland with David I. A large portion of the rest were Vikings, especially those who considered themselves 'highlanders'.
That goes for the English too.
Another interesting thing is the number of weirdos I've managed to find. Three of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, for example (for fans of the TV show Vikings), The Swan Knight (the basis for Wagner's opera Lohengrin, no less), El Cid (Spain's national hero. I'm related through both of his daughters) and Magnus Maximus (the last of the great Pretenders from the north, he actually became Caesar of the Western Empire before getting too greedy and going for the Top Job). Mt favourite strange ancestor, though, is Thorfinn Skullsplitter. That is a great name.
I feel it is a good joke that I can consider myself a 'distant' member of the British royal family, and I treat it that way. If I rolled up at Buckingham Palace and said, "G'day, guys, I'd like to see my cousin 10 time removed, Lilibet, they'd throw me out the door.
Besides, I think I have a better claim to the French throne: there is a lot less competition.
One thing I have learnt is that I'm a walking European Union: there are only a handful out countries that I haven't found ancestors in yet (Finland, Albania, Romania), but I am working on that ...
One interesting thing I have learnt is that many of my Scottish ancestors weren't all that Scottish. Close to half of them were Normans who came to Scotland with David I. A large portion of the rest were Vikings, especially those who considered themselves 'highlanders'.
That goes for the English too.
Another interesting thing is the number of weirdos I've managed to find. Three of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, for example (for fans of the TV show Vikings), The Swan Knight (the basis for Wagner's opera Lohengrin, no less), El Cid (Spain's national hero. I'm related through both of his daughters) and Magnus Maximus (the last of the great Pretenders from the north, he actually became Caesar of the Western Empire before getting too greedy and going for the Top Job). Mt favourite strange ancestor, though, is Thorfinn Skullsplitter. That is a great name.
Live Long and Prosper!