Hi I am related to all the British royals and most of European ones too, also some Saints that were Kings and Queens of Scotland, banished, beheaded whatever. I think most people are, they may not have searched enough to have found the exact connection; all you need is a Campbell, Hamilton, Gordon, Stewart or such ancestor, unless you are German like the current British royality stems from, then you will need to be a : Hanover-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg -
von Hessen und bei Rhein......, (then quickly change your name to Windsor.) I have easily found over 20 blood lines to those heir apparents too...mostly from their beautiful mother's side.
I am not holding my breath, for invites and visitations to my ancestral homes from my cousin Queen EII.
I wanted to say, that my 5th great grandfather Duncan Campbell was responsible for getting a lot of convicts to Sydney during the time your 4th grt was sent there. Firstly he would take convicts to Virginia, then after the 1776 blow out..sent them to Sydney. If you or readers are interested in this sort of research. The on line story "Blackheath Connection" is fascinating. Your 4th great may have been on his vessel "Justicia" for instance, you could be sent away for just about anything, not paying a bill, tax, you did not have to be a murderer.
Duncan Campbell's niece married Adm Sir William Bligh... and thus they are my Bligh cousins. I am looking for living Blighs and Adm Bligh's blood connection to the Earls of Darnley. Incase anyone is out there with information, such as yourself. The 4th Earl and my grtxxxx uncle were executors of his will and I believe the Earl to have been a relation consequently. So I am also wondering if this is your grandmother Mary Stoyte, daughter of John of Westmeath; or Elizabeth Brownlow, daughter of William of Lurgan? I hope to talk to you further about this.
DR
My gx4 grandfather was a convict transported to Australia in 1790. (I read the actual transcript of his 'trial' on the Old Bailey site - a fantastic site if you, too, are one of the criminal classes.) His grandaughter, sister of my g-grandfather, married Ivo Bligh, the captain of the English cricket team to whom the original Ashes were first given. She subsequently became the Countess of Darnley and was for a time the official 'Keeper of the Ashes' - they were given to the MCC after her death.
The bit I enjoy most is that I looked her up in De Bretts, where she was said to be 'a niece of Morphy, the chess player'. This is total nonsense - someone, somewhere along the way, was keen to see that it didn't get out that she was the grandaughter of a transported criminal!
A lovely blend of fame and infamy ...
Ros
