A distant family relative claims to have traced my maternal family back to the kings of Scotland (including Duncan, who was murdered by Macbeth) and English kings (Ethelred the Unready and Alfred the Great, etc.) going back to around 500 AD, but I don't know how she traced them.
Personally, I can't get back any earlier than the mid 1700s with either side of my family. An illegitimate ancestor with no father traceable has stymied me on the one side, a very common surname on the other.
