"I'm a distant relative of William The Conqueror"!

[Julia9054]

William the Conqueror lived about 40 generations ago. If he had two surviving children and they had two surviving children (and so on) then he would have about a 1000 billion (2^40) direct descendants by now. That aren't even that many people in the world.

He had 4 legitimate children. Eldest, Robert had one son who died childless and son number 2, William, died childless. The other two made up for it though. Daughter Adela had 10 children and whilst youngest son Henry had only 1 legitimate child who survived to reproduce, he was thought to have over 20 illegitimate children.

 

[winjim]

Yes - but those parents and grandparents would be shared by other people. The total population per generation would decrease until there was just two in the first one.
The point that I was trying to make was that it's highly likely that most indigenous British people are by now descended from William the Conqueror.

Ah, I see. Sorry, I think I interpreted your post in the exact opposite of the way it was intended.

 

[MontyVeda]

Isn't Danny Dyer also descended from Edward III? (he was on Who Do You Think You Are a couple of years back). It was discussed on Radio 4's More or Less, who worked out that Eddy would have around 250,000* descendants today... so Danny's connection is neither special nor significant.

*can't recall the actual figure but it was more than a lot but not in the millions.

 

[nickyboy]

My surname is most commonly found in Sweden. In England, it's most common on NE coast, Whitby in particular

So I'm claiming Viking ancestry

 

[Yellow Fang]

Apparently, there's a 70% chance I'm related to Queen Nefertiti.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I am related to Kylie Minogue but I don't do the locomotion about it.

 

[NorthernDave]

I am related to Kylie Minogue but I don't do the locomotion about it.

You should be so lucky...

 

[tyred]

We're all descended from Adam and Eve so we are all cousins I believe Elvis said so....

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You should be so lucky...

She knows she can confide in me.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

There was a programme on TV last week, possibly an old one, with Dr Alice Roberts, and the scientist bods of some university had done some DNA mapping. The gene pool was fairly limited, and indicated that the accepted "violent invading foreign hoardes" were no more than folklore and the genetic evidence was of mostly peaceful co-existence. There were geographic genetic differences, with Wales, Cornwall, being quite distinct to Central England, and a lot of commonality between Ireland, Scotland and Northumberland.

 

[irw]

... and so's my wife!

Always thought you Brummies were a bit...y’know....

 

[MontyVeda]

There was a programme on TV last week, possibly an old one, with Dr Alice Roberts, and the scientist bods of some university had done some DNA mapping. The gene pool was fairly limited, and indicated that the accepted "violent invading foreign hoardes" were no more than folklore and the genetic evidence was of mostly peaceful co-existence. There were geographic genetic differences, with Wales, Cornwall, being quite distinct to Central England, and a lot of commonality between Ireland, Scotland and Northumberland.

not quite true... there were raiders, traders and also settlers.

 

[Chris S]

Always thought you Brummies were a bit...y’know....

 

[Andy in Germany]

Not me, but so says 'actor' Danny Dyer. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...elative-William-Conqueror-new-BBC-series.html. Do you think you might be a distant relative of some well known historical figure and if not would you like to be one and if so who and why?

So he's basically descended from an immigrant Frenchman with Viking heritage, who came to scrounge of the hard working English. He'd better be careful about saying that in public or he may get deported for not being properly British.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

not quite true... there were raiders, traders and also settlers.

Aye, but the folklore focuses on the raiders.