I just received the news that I am descended from the aristocracy

[msatty99]

hereafter, I would greatly appreciate it if, when responding to
my posts, you would refer to me as "your highness" or, perhaps,
"your Majesty".

Your cooperation will be appreciated!:evilgrin:

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. You and probably everyone else...

fun fact: it's nearly statistically impossible that anyone of Western European ancestry ISN'T descended from Charlemagne, and everyone of European descent whose ancestry can be traced back to the 12th-13th century is descended from English royalty (including people like Hermann Göring and Daniel Boone).

[msatty99]

2. Wait a second....are you saying my great great great great great great

grandma was a slut?

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Very simple...

number of ancestors increases in each generation by a power of 2; 40 generations back (roughly the time of Charlemagne) you have 2^40 ancestors (or a bit more than one trillion), which is impossible, since world population at the same time is estimated at about 300 million...and if your ancestry is mostly or entirely European, you're descended from a smaller subset of those 300 million...which means you probably have MULTIPLE lines of descent from almost everyone alive in Europe at the time.

[Ravenseye]

32. Actually that's flawed

that presumes that there are no duplicates. Just look at my late-cocker spaniel's heritage document and you can see multiple dogs on there. Just because 3 generations back there are 8 spots, it was only taken up by 5 dogs.

Great for breeding.

Look at other families of royalty. They often became highly inbred. For instance I think it was the Hapsburgs who developed hemophelia within their line and it just stuck around becuase of the inbreeding. It was rare that another person was added to the mix. Both Prince Charles and Lady Diana were descendants of Queen Victoria for instance.

Its just not so. Many people are descended from relatively isolated breeding stocks from various locations. There was interbreeding between villages and countries, but not to the extent you're talking about. It's just not the case.

Now that's not to say that people aren't descended from royalty or nobility, it just means that it's not as common as you believe, and based on most research that's a good thing. Nobility tended to be so inbred over the past milennia that you're probably healthier with a nice variety of good robust peasant stock. Nothing to be ashamed of.

[Spider Jerusalem]

39. No...

it DOESN'T presume that there are no duplicates; quite the contrary, it presumes that there's a massive amount of duplication (particularly 20-40 generations back). You're making a faulty assumption, because humans don't really breed like dogs--I've traced my own ancestry back at least 10 generations in multiple lines, and a very few lines go much further, and there's very little ancestor duplication until a point c. 1200-1300 where several lines that branch off of the one or two I can trace back that far start to converge. Sure, most of my ancestors 800 or 1000 years ago WERE English and German and Irish peasants, but some small percentage were kings and nobles and knights. And if it's true for me and for anyone else whose ancestry CAN be traced back that far, it's a reasonable assumption that it is, in fact, true of EVERYONE.

Not to mention that there was a great deal more social mobility than you might think, especially through female lines; within the space of 10 generations it's not hard at all to go from offspring of royalty to nobility to gentry to peasant in the same line. Add to that the fact that bastardy was quite common among the royals and nobles (King John had at least 10 bastards, Henry I at least 11), and that the Church forbade marriage within certain degrees of kinship without a dispensation, and you begin to see that it's much more plausible that probably everyone of European ancestry is of royal or noble descent. And then you have the deposition of royal houses, through things like the Norman Conquest of the Wars of the Roses, which can create changes in social class; and a greater degree of exogamy than you'd think (especially in the New World; it's estimated that some 150 million Americans descend from European royalty).

[sarge43]

47. No it wasn't the Hapsburgs

Queen Victoria was responsible for hemophilia being introduced into the royal families of Russia and Spain through her daughters, Alice and Beatrice. It didn't stick around because of inbreeding; there had been no marriages between the Spanish and English royals since the Middle Ages until Beatrice's daughter Victoria married Alfonso XIII. Princess Diana wasn't a descendent of Victoria. Mary, Queen of Scots is their most recent shared royal ancestor. Now for the record, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are descendents of both Victoria and King Christian IX of Denmark.

[Ravenseye]

51. You're right

I don't know why I thought it was Diana. The Queen and her hubby Prince Philip are both decended from Queen Victoria. I mixed that up. All them royals look the same to me. ;)

I also mixed up the Hemophilia. You're right that it was Victoria, but the Hapsburgs were highly inbred to the point where they had a number of peculiarities, including the Hapsburg Lip. They interbred for nearly half a milennia till Charles the 2nd was a complete invalid who couldn't father children, ending the Spanish line.

[TheBaldyMan]

53. that explains Prince Charles' jug ears and lack of chin.

oh dear, I've blown the Knighthood. :(

[sarge43]

55. Nah

As Arthur C. Clarke pointed out, it's almost impossible to dodge a knighthood nowadays.

[SaveElmer]

36. This is true...but

The challenge is proving it!!!

That is the fun part!

[xmas74]

23. Bingo!

If anyone digs far enough back they will probably find some claim to royalty in their family tree, whether it be through the documented and accepted bloodlines or through "lax morals."

[Shine]

3. LOL! Yeah, well, good luck with that.

:D

Welcome to DU, btw! :toast:

(pls forgive me if I've already welcomed you and spaced it) I'm getting older, you know. :eyes:

[BikeWriter]

4. I am a direct descendant of an elite family of Arkansas mule skinners...

and you are welcomed to CENSORED! :rofl::kick:

[BrotherBuzz]

5. LOL, descended from aristocracy doesn't mean you inherited a title....

I'm descended from a remittance man that drew the short straw. C'est la vie.

[msatty99]

7. I am "pretty sure" I am a Marquis, perhaps a Baron....

so I think it's pretty appropriate to refer to me
as "your highness". :evilgrin:

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Go for the whole enchilada and claim yourself Emperor

"At the peremptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the past nine years and ten months of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U.S., and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in the Musical Hall of this city on the 1st day of February next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity. - Emperor Norton (1859)

[msatty99]

21. Tempting...very tempting.....:evilgrin:

[Karenina]

38. That and 4 bucks

will get you a cafe latte at your local hoi-poloi franchise.

[msatty99]

45. Well, as I suggest, addressing me as

"your highness" or "your majesty" would be something along the way of
a good start.

But you commoners are so, je ne sais quoi,....unrefined.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Only if you call me "Laird"

Actually, "Doctor" would do fine.

[BikeWriter]

10. Anyone call me Lard they're in trouble! Oh, you said Laird...

Nevermind!

[EstimatedProphet]

11. OK, call me doctor instead

[BikeWriter]

12. Okay, Doctor EstimatedProphet, will do!

[msatty99]

13. Lard, It would be my royal pleasure but only if...

you can prove you are as authenticly noble as I am.

:evilgrin:

[Robeson]

9. Sorry, you're just like the rest of us....or as Redd Foxx used to say...

...there ain't a person out there, who doesn't have to sit on a toilet, and take a shit everyday....:-)

[TheBaldyMan]

35. certainly not , nobility is in the spirit not in the genes.

All that bowing and scraping. It's so undignified for everyone concerned.

[Redstone]

14. No.

Redstone

[msatty99]

15. Are you,.....in REBELLION???!!!!

Perhaps one of those 'anti-Royalists'? :evilgrin:

[Redstone]

17. A Yankee who speaks plain. Again, no. Make of it what you will.

Redstone

[msatty99]

24. Yes, you ARE in rebellion...either that or you're Mel Gibson

and not very talkative in either case. Methinks you are in peril of your
soul, Redstone....aren't you aware that Royalty is ordained by
"DIVINE RIGHT" ...Please reconsider...

[Redstone]

26. Reconsider? No.

Redstone

[mwooldri]

18. Ok, I'd like to see your credentials.

I'd gladly address you appropriately but credentials are surely in order.

Many thanks, Lord Mark of Greensboro, 1st Baron of Guilford.

(Who just changed his name by deedpoll, in the same way as Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow did. btw he was born David Edward Sutch, and English law allows you by deedpoll to change your name to whatever you like).

No I haven't changed my name, otherwise I would have been Mr. Lord MOGFBO Guilford officially.

[msatty99]

19. I believe, sir, that you have just proved you are no gentleman, for

no true gentleman would impugn the integrity by challenging one's
bona fides. It should properly be taken that my nobility is a
fact, merely based on my word of honour. Only a commoner would
ask for 'credentials'.

[mwooldri]

20. Then you must have changed your name by deedpoll too!

Welcome to the aristocracy!

[msatty99]

25. Thanks for the welcome, the first thing tomorrow,

I think I will get some lace embellished shirts, a silk jacket, some
buckled boots and ...a wig. :smoke:

[riona]

40. maybe your avatar should be a coat of arms or something

[msatty99]

44. I wasn't able to find one quite grand enough

But, perhaps when I find one I shall do just that..then EVERYBODY will
refer to me as "your majesty" :evilgrin:

[xmas74]

22. You're not the only one posting on this thread.

I've never found it that impressive in my family.

[msatty99]

27. By all rights, I should be in possession of a grand estate in

Western Hungaria....what a pity...

[xmas74]

29. In time, you'll get over it.

[XNASA]

28. "Your Highness" seems appropriate enough.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

30. Okay, jokes aside..

I live for genealogy. DETAILS! Or PM me?

I personally come from a long line of hearty dirt farmers in Western Florida. On one side, that is.

[msatty99]

31. Well, most of my family are Hillbillys from Eastern Kentucky,

but I understand that some new evidence has come to light that demonstrates a collateral
line directly linking my birth to the Viscount of Saxony-on-Ubermamma, hency, considering
the whole ball of wax, it's abundantly clear that I should be on some minor, eastern
european throne...of some sort.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

37. Ubermamma?

Then we have something in common.

I AM AN UBERMAMMA. real ubber.

[Call Me Wesley]

41. British nobility has a few rules.

You can be the son of a Duke and have no title at all. And thrones are overrated anyway. ;)

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[SteppingRazor]

33. So when are you leaving us for the GOP?

:evilgrin:

[msatty99]

34. (I've been waiting to say this) the GOP CAN

"KISS MY ROYAL ARSE" :evilgrin:

[RedCloud]

42. "tis better to have ascended from the aristocracy...

There are only so many paths to enlightenment and the aristocrats have so little chance, gentle grasshopper...

[msatty99]

43. True indeed Redcloud, but firsrt I have to BE aristocratic before

I can ascend from it...unless...gee are you telling me there's another WAY?!
Nah.

Besides methinks I would look very nice in an ermine embroidered cloak and
silk jacket.

[Nikia]

46. I am too

I have a lot of different ancestors though. I guess that is a good thing.

[applegrove]

48. Yup - everyone is related to everyone if you go back 900 years in

certain regions.

[Rowdyboy]

49. My parents are Lord and Lady Effingbroke and I'm their heir......

Here's the family estate....



Dad's porche...



and a peek at the tresury.....

[riona]

50. you need a moat

[LynneSin]

52. Sweetie, I'm cousin to the chimp boondocking in the white house

I'll call you any damn thing I want to call you!

[Iniquitous Bunny]

54. Me too!

Old time colonial blue blood Mayflower stock here that was originally English aristocracy (apparently tossed out of the old country aristocracy no less). Let's hear for our stuck-up, inbreeding ancestors. :woohoo:

[RubyDuby in GA]

56. Oh, if we're going by our royal titles, I prefer Her Serene Highness

The Princess RubyDuby. My family on my mom's side is related to the royal house of Monaco.