I’m often asked about Mary Boleyn’s links to the present royal family, so I thought I’d explain a bit more about it.
Queen Elizabeth II descends from Mary Boleyn, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, descend from her in two different ways. It’s lovely to think that there is Boleyn blood on the throne today.
If you prefer reading, I’ve done a couple of articles on this:
My mother has told me we are related to princess diana. My maiden name is Cavender which I believe is from the name Cavendish, however I can’t really afford to research these stories.
Hi Claire, I believe I may have Boleyn blood and Tudor blood to, about a year ago I discovered that my sixth times grandmother was the illegitimate daughter of the Egerton / Bridgewater family, however on her birth certificate it does not state who her parents were but on her daughters obituary it records her as being maternally related to the Bridgewater family, Henry Carey lord Hudson and his wife Anne Morgan had as you know many children, one of them was Lady Philadelphia Carey whose granddaughter married into the Egerton family, through another lineage of the Egerton family they descend from lady Eleanor Clifford the daughter of Princess Mary Tudor, of course it has to be verified so I am thinking of hiring an expert, I too do not believe that Mary Boleyn’s children were Henry V111’s, I do not think he would have slept with a close friend of his where the parentage of any children born would be in doubt, he was close to Carey being his cousin as well, there is also something very telling here, Henry V111’s offspring were not particularly robust although Edward was fine and only died because he was unfortunate in catching measles and chicken pox, which weakened his immunity so he could not shake of his later more deadly illness, but Mary died quite young and was barren, Elizabeth’s medical history is not much better though she never died of anything fatal like Mary, but her obstetric history is suspect, because she always declared she was a virgin, but her lay dressed noted she had very few periods which may have been a factor in her ability to conceive if she had ever married, whereas Mary Boleyn’s children were all very fertile who went onto have large families themselves, I think that tells us that it is more than likely both Catherine and Henry were of Carey’s blood rather than Henry V111’s, it was lovely looking at the paintings as well, especially of the late Princess Diana, she would have been sixty this year, William is very like her and Harry as he ages grows more like Charles, without his character of course.