As Gary Boyd Roberts announced yesterday, Meghan Markle has a distant kinship to Prince Harry through their shared descent from Sir Philip Wentworth (died 1464) and his wife Mary Clifford. While Gary continues to work on much of Meghan’s American ancestry, especially her forebears in colonial New England, I’ve composed the chart at left from his notes. This outlines the three closest kinships between Meghan and Harry that have so far been identified – two through Harry’s mother and one through his father. As Gary has noted, there are hundreds of other ways they would be distantly related.
I’ve also been working on Meghan Markle’s American ancestors, so stay tuned!
Notes on the above chart:
For the lineages behind Princess Diana, see Richard K. Evans, The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales, for Twelve Generations (Boston: NEHGS, 2007); for the lineages behind Prince Charles, see Gerald Paget, The Lineage and ancestry of H.R.H. Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (Edinburgh, 1977). For the royal descent of William Skepper, and as an ancestor to both President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady Kermit (Carow) Roosevelt, see Gary Boyd Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents, 2009 Edition (Boston: NEHGS, 2017 reprint). For the American generations from William Skepper to Meghan Markle, see The American Genealogist 20 [1943]: 77–85, 69 [1994]: 129–30; Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Abel Lunt, 1769-1806, of Newbury, Massachusetts (Portland, Me., 1963), 13–17 (Skepper to Drake); Joseph Dow, History of the Town of Hampton, New Hampshire, 2: 690 (Drake); Biographical Review Volume XXI – Containing Life Sketches of Leading Citizens of Strafford and Belknap Counties, New Hampshire (Boston, 1897), 141 (Drake to Smith); Mildred D. Mudgett, Thomas Mudgett of Salisbury, Massachusetts and his descendants (Bennington, Vt., 1961), 69 (Smith to Merrill); and later vital record and census data.
Thank you for the chart and resources at the end of the article. I’m a Wentworth descendant. My most recent Wentworth was my 2x great grandmother. I will pour through the chart and your resources looking to see if I can discover common ancestors between Harry and me as well as between Meghan and me. Always fun to claim kinship, no matter how distant, to the famous!
The chart is quite clear and easy to follow. How can I create that template on Mac. I have FTM 2017. Thank you.
Hi Beverley – I created this one using Adobe Illustrator (by typing in all the names, etc.), so it was not from an automatic template.
The chart isn’t very print friendly. Anyway to get the chart from another source for printing?
Doretta,
I am also descended from the Wentworths( If that inst obvious from my name). I would very much like to know more about your connection to the Wentworth family if you don’t mind sharing.
Please send me an email:. Mj.genwhy@gmail.com
Outstanding–and I always stay tuned for what you have to say. Best wishes to you and Gary Boyd Roberts.
More please! Much more!! Thanks, Chris. Also to Gary & the rest of the staff. Bet you will turn over some really interesting rocks.
I’ve got the entire ancestry of Mary Hussey Smith 1822-1908 in my database at Ancestry.com with title Town of Stratham 1716-2016. MHS has alot of kin from Stratham.
Meghan is a descendant of Christopher Hussey, one of the original settlers of Nantucket. That makes her distant cousin to about half of the people living there, including my husband who is twice descended from him.
Christopher Hussey and his wife, Theodate Bachiler Hussey were joined in Lynn, MA by her father the Rev. Stephen Bachiler and he became the founding minister of the First Church of Christ, Congregational in Lynn, MA. on June 5, 1632 at age 71 and three days after his landing in Boston from England. This church is still very active and it is the earliest continuing congregational parish in the United States . The Bachiler / Hussey ‘s then moved to Hampton, NH where they become the town’s founding families. Another of the Bachiler daughters, Deborah Bachiler Wing joined the family in New England shortly afterwards. Deborah and her three son’s John, Daniel and Stephen were among the founding families of Sandwich, MA. The Rev. Stephen Bachiler is Meghan Merkle’s 12th great- grandfather and the Hussey’s, her 11th great grandparents. The Wings, her aunt , and cousins are numerous throughout the United States and are so honored to claim Meghan as another Wing cousin. Hence Meghan’s roots are to be found throughout colonial coastal New England,