19 April 2005

Genealogy and DNA analysis

My wife Nancy has recently hit the jackpot with respect to her ongoing genealogical research. Although family lore indicated that she is 4th great-granddaughter to Benedict Calvert of Mount Airy, Maryland, a prominent American colonial whose father was Charles Calvert, the 5th Lord Baltimore, up until recently there was no proof of this. Now there is, as her father underwent a DNA analysis which came up identical to a known descendant of Benedict's via his illegitimate son, William, who is buried in rural Pennsylvania.

Now it remains for Nancy to demonstrate a rumoured descent from King George I, whose illegitimate daughter may or may not have been Benedict's mother. (Benedict was raised apart from his parents.) My first thought is that a member of the royal family might be persuaded to undergo a similar DNA analysis, which could point to a blood relationship with my father-in-law. However, there is some question whether the current Queen and her brood are actually blood descendants of the Hanoverian line.

A few years ago British writer A. N. Wilson, perhaps best known for an unflattering biography of C. S. Lewis, published a book titled, The Victorians, in which he argued, based on medical evidence, that Queen Victoria's father may not after all have been Edward, Duke of Kent, but Sir John Conroy, with whom her mother may have had an affair. I recall my high school biology teacher, during a lecture on genetics, pointing us to this possibility already 35 years ago. If so, then the rightful King of England (and of Canada) might well be Prince Ernst August of Hanover and the rightful Queen Princess Caroline of Monaco!

          
Sources: New Brunswick Community College, BBC, PBS

Edward, Duke of Kent     Queen Victoria     Sir John Conroy


However, upon comparing portraits of the two possible paternal candidates, my own admittedly subjective judgement is that Victoria more closely resembles the somewhat dowdy Duke of Kent than she does the dashing Conroy.

Now just how does one go about getting the Queen to submit a tissue sample?

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