KINGS’ DESCENDANTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 May 1936, Page 11

KINGS’ DESCENDANTS

ARE YOU ONE OF THEM ? Many very humble people can claim to be the descendants of kings. Some time ago an expert traced well over 50,000 living descendants of Edward IV., his brother George of Clarence, and his sister, Anne of Exeter. They included most of the Royal Families of Europe, 371 members of the House of Lords, and a number of Smiths, Browns, and Robinsons. It has also been estimated that about a quarter of the present population of England are descendants fijom William the Conqueror. In Scotland every clansman is of noble lineage. Each of the clans is a band of brothers, descended from a common ancestor who was the founder of the clan. Thus the MacGregors arc the descendants of Gregor, son of Alpin, an eighth-century King of Scots. It is sometimes claimed, too, that all the clans had a common ancestor in one of the famous heroes of early legend. If we were able to trace our pedigree back far enough all of us would probably find that we had noble ancestors, though some of them might not be exactly relatives to be proud of. This was underlined by the first Lord Spencer, the ancestor of Mr. Winston Churchill. The Earl of Arun? del said to him in the course of a. fierce discussion: “My lord, when these things were doing your ancestors were keeping sheep,” “When my ancestors were keeping sheep,’ retorted Spencer, “your lordship’s ancestors were plotting treason.