Robinson Genealogy: DNA or Coincidence? Mistresses of Kings

Sunday, May 07, 2023

DNA or Coincidence? Mistresses of Kings

Nadene Goldfoot

Mistress. of Prince Charles Mistress of King Edward VII

2019 official portrait We saw her finally crowned Queen yesterday.

Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, 17 July 1947; later Parker Bowles) is Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III

Camilla's Scottish lineage descends from King Robert III of Scotland through his daughter Mary, who was the mother of Sir William Edmonstone of Duntreath, an ancestor of her maternal great-great-grandfather, Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet. Her paternal ancestors, an upper-class family, emigrated to England from Scotland. On her paternal side she is descended from James Shand, 1st Laird of Craigellie, whose father, also named James, held the office of Provost of Banff. Other noble ancestors on her paternal side include George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton, and George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull.

One of her maternal great-grandmothers, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910. On 1 November 1947, Camilla Shand was baptised at St. Peter's Church, Firle, East Sussex. We have 2 maternal grandmothers (1 our fathers' mother and 1 our mother's mother), so we have 4 great grandmothers.

Alice Frederica Keppel (née Edmonstone; 29 April 1868 – 11 September 1947) was an aristocrat, British society hostess and a long-time mistress of King Edward VII.

Keppel grew up at Duntreath Castle, the family seat of the Edmonstone baronets in Scotland. She was the youngest child of Mary Elizabeth, née Parsons, and Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet. In 1891 she married George Keppel, an army officer, and they had two daughters. Alice Keppel became one of the most prominent society hostesses of the Edwardian era. Her beauty, charm and discretion impressed London society and brought her to the attention of the future King Edward VII in 1898, when he was still prince of Wales, whose mistress she remained until his death, lightening the dark moods of his later years, and holding considerable influence.

Through her younger daughter, Sonia Cubitt, Alice Keppel is the great-grandmother of Queen Camilla, the second wife of Edward VII's great-great-grandson King Charles III.

This means that Camilla and Charles are actually related, even possibly sharing a few genes. Alice would be the gggrandmother of Queen Camilla now. King Charles is King Edward VII's,gggrandson. "Eldest son of the formidable Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Edward ascended the throne when his mother died in 1901 and only reigned for nine years. With a reputation as a playboy prince, Edward’s relationship with his mother was sometimes strained. Edward VII is a maternal 2x great-grandfather of King Charles III's, making Queen Victoria his 3x great-grandmother." Charles is following in Edward's footsteps and so Camilla is following in Alice's.

Portrait of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, by Winterhalter, 1846--king below

So much just like Charles:

Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.

The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and nicknamed "Bertie", Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years. During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.

Shortly after Prince Albert's death, Queen Victoria arranged for Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul.The British Government wanted Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt's ruler, Said Pasha, to prevent French control of the Suez Canal if the Ottoman Empire collapsed. As soon as Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on 9 September 1862.

First marriage in 1863

Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 10 March 1863. He was 21; she was 18,

Edward had 55 some mistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actress Lillie Langtry; Lady Randolph Churchill; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actress Sarah Bernhardt; noblewoman Lady Susan Vane-Tempest; singer Hortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as "La Barucci"); wealthy humanitarian Agnes Keyser; and Alice Keppel. At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured.

The current sovereign Charles III was the longest serving prince of Wales for 64 years and 44 days between 1958 and 2022. He beat out King Edward VII who waited almost 60 years to be king. He was also heir apparent for longer than any other in British history. Upon the death of his mother on 8 September 2022, Charles became king and the title merged with the Crown.

The wedding day of Charles III and Dianna, first wife

Was it really because they didn't become King upon age 21 that they needed a mistress so badly? They had wives.

Our Robinson line-from my mother and her brother and all those connected to us- is related to Queen Anne who was married to King James VII of England and was also James II Duke of York. Anne was born March 22, 1637, died April 10, 1671. That doesn't mean we all carry the Y haplogroup of the King's line or the Queen's line, but might have inherited a few genes. As a female, I did inherit my mother's mt haplogroup of the female line. My daughter did also.

We're related through my mother's father's connection to the Hyde family. Queen Anne's father was Edward Hyde. My blog tells all about the connection.

King James VII was the younger brother of Charles II. He escaped to the continent during the Civil War and had a distinguished military career in the French and Spanish armies before returning to London at the Restoration.

Charles II, the the king, told him that he must leave England temporarily. After a period of exile in Holland, James went to Scotland as the King's Lord High Commissioner in 1679 and 1680. He stayed at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh and culture flourished in the capital under the patronage of his vice-regal Court.James inherited the throne on Charles II's death in 1685 with little opposition in Scotland. A rising led by the Earl of Argyll was easily suppressed, although suspicions increased that James was trying to introduce Roman Catholicism when he made grants of religious toleration and converted the Abbey Church of Holyrood into a Roman Catholic Chapel Royal (it was also planned to be the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, which James revived in 1687).

Various members of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon's family are buried with him in a vault in the north ambulatory, near the steps up to Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey. A gravestone recording the names was first inserted in 1867 and it has been re-cut. The inscriptions read:
Here lie buried Edward Hyde First Earl of Clarendon 4th January 1674/5.
Anne, relict [widow] of Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bart. and mother of the first Countess 1661.
Mary, relict of Henry Hyde and mother of the first Earl 28th December 1661.
Frances, his second wife 17th August 1667.
Henry Hyde, Second Earl of Clarendon 4th November 1709.
Edward Hyde, Third Earl of Clarendon 5th April 1723.
Jane, relict of Henry Hyde, fourth Earl of Clarendon 1 June 1725.
and four of the children of the fourth E.of Clarendon, Edward 17th November 1702, Laurence 27th May 1704, Anne 2nd November 1709, Henrietta 5th July 1710.
The dates given are those of the burials.
There could be a few genes that are passed onto future royalty. It's hard to say. DNA testing is a recent development, and it's hard to find descendants. Who if any has tested?
Sykes also designated five main Y-DNA haplogroups for various regions of Britain and Ireland.
Haplogroup R1b.
Haplogroup R1a.
Haplogroup I.
Haplogroup E1b1b.
Haplogroup J.