And their daughter, Frances Ruth Burke Roche, married Edward John Spencer, the eighth Earl Spencer. The Churchills were so much more famous and eminent that the Spencers became the secondary branch of their own family, and even lost their earldom, which was absorbed in the dukedom of Marlborough and has subsequently been used by the eldest son of the duke's heir, the Marquis of Blandford. Lord Spencer then instantly replied: "When my ancestors as you say were keeping sheep, your ancestors were plotting treason.". The result was that the Churchill family are not really Churchills at all, but Spencers who added the surname Churchill to their own. A permanent memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed is pictured in the Harrods store in London, 31 August 2006, on the ninth anniversary of their death. The next nineteen generations of Spencers rose to opulent prominence, particularly during the sixteenth century. The Princess Diana and Winston Churchill genealogies are a "consensus" of genealogies seen on the web. In fact I have a theory that when the old Eastern families kept marrying one another it made people rather short, and when they moved out in the 19th century they got new blood and started getting taller. The California-based humanitarian organisation, Roots of Peace, was set up in memory of Princess Diana, who was an avid campaigner against landmines. The most interesting member of this family was Maurice Burke Roche, Lady Diana's grandfather who became the fourth Baron Fermoy in 1921. . Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. That loss notwithstanding, the Spencers flourished throughout the eighteenth century. Sheep from their pastures were purchased for breeding and it is probable that the family’s success as farmers was rarely equalled in the century. One became Earl of Sunderland, another the Duke of Marlborough when his uncle, only son and heir to the great John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, died. While Ruth could adopt the latter, there was no way she could invent the former. She is a first cousin six times removed of Nathan Hale. After John F Kennedy Jr met with Princess Diana at her hotel suite in New York in 1995, it was rumored the two were having a secret affair. . First Published In 15 August 2007, The Real Diana. Now then. Who can doubt I am closely related to Mr. Roberts the genealogist and who can doubt he will have me inside Buckingham Palace within the year? Written By Henry Mitchell For The Washington Post. The humble origins of the Spencers as sheep farmers once caused a heated exchange of words between wealthy yet then upstart Lord Spencer and the Earl of Arundel, whose ancestors had been Earls of Arundel since the thirteenth century. One of the richest women in England, she offered the cash-strapped King George II £100,000 [about $50 million today] for the hand of his son and heir Frederick, Prince of Wales, for her favorite granddaughter Diana Spencer. She was a great-grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her great-great-grandchildren include Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and the American actor Oliver Platt. They are both ninth cousins of President Harding.". [He did not actually say this. And they did their utmost to garner as much of its prestige for themselves as possible. His title, Earl Spencer, along with the title Viscount Althorp, of Althorp in the County of Northamptonshire was officially created in the Peerage of Great Britain on 1 November 1765. We spoke briefly on the crosses one must bear -- one is hardly responsible for one'e forbears -- and Roberts mentioned that other American (Wallis Warfield of Maryland) associated with the British royal house. All his predecessors became politicians and served as members of the parliament. ", "I have always regarded Ben as a royal name," I interposed. Maurice was the son of an American heiress named Frances [Fanny] Work [born in 1819 in Ohio] and the Honourable James Roche, later the third Baron Fermoy. A mere baron might sound far from the throne, but not really: Just over a century after Work traded her money to the aristocracy, her great-granddaughter Diana became the Princess … "When Work was 80," said Roberts, "he had a sick horse and spent all night in the stall with him.". Desktop notifications are on | Turn off, Get breaking news alerts from The Washington Post. I have some candlesticks of hers. Reitwiesner, the one that likes to make trouble, appeared to be enjoying himself, but provided, after all, some quite respectable American connections for the princess: She is a second cousin 12 times removed of Lewis Burwell of Virginia, his researches have disclosed. To be quite sure that one is related to persons of consequence it may in some cases be necessary to go back to Adam. All you have to do is go back yourself until you hit one of them and you have it made. During the reign of King James I, he was reputed to be the richest man in England. "I said something about inbreeding making people short. He then carried this interdict further, and left her twin sons, Maurice and Francis, portions of his fortune only if they became American citizens and remained in the United States for the remainder of their lives. Instantly the question arises -- for one would not wish to barge in on the royal couple unless one were truly of the family -- whether one is a cousin or not. Her maternal great-grandparents, James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy, and Frances Ellen Work, were also Oliver’s maternal great-great-grandparents. She has a tenth cousin working here at The Washington Post. Lady Diana is one-fourth Scots, one-sixteenth Irish and Anglo-Irish, and one-eighth American. The question seems to be difficult. Lady Diana is one-fourth Scots, one-sixteenth Irish and Anglo-Irish, and one-eighth American. "I'm a quarter American, a quarter Irish and half Scottish." But the answer is simple. Photo: AP, @diana.princess.wales @keishaomilana/ Instagram Style / Celebrity Rebel royals: From Diana to Japan’s Princess Mako, 5 princesses who broke royal protocol and lived by … This was that her great great grandmother Eliza Kewark was a dark skinned native of Bombay who had lived, without benefit of matrimony, with her great great grandfather Theodore Forbes while he worked for the East India Company. But I certainly expect that once the princess of Wales' American connection becomes generally known we shall see half of this continent boarding Concordes and steamers and open rafts to sail to London -- to sail to the palace -- to have tea with the family. Frank Work, to get back to him, was a druggist's clerk in Chillicothe [other documentation shows he was a dry-goods clerk -- Ed.] It doesn't' stop with Washington, … For that matter we do not abandon Old Pearl long after she no longer pulls the plough. Diana Spencer herself is eligible through three different ancestors for the Daughters of the American Revolution. There is not all that much Americans can do with Frank Work, fine man though he was, but once you start exploring his and his wife's relatives and going back a bit, you wind up with all those 17th century worthies. Frances Ellen Work (October 27, 1857 – January 26, 1947) was an American heiress and socialite. They took greater pride in being descended five times from King Charles II, even though four of those lines of descent were illegitimate including his illegitimate son Henry FitzRoy, and when the second Diana Spencer married Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1981, they were thrilled that it was through them the Stuart blood was being reintroduced into the royal line. This Mr. Strong, who was a graduate of Yale in 1788, himself had 25 percent well-documented forbears who lived in New England in the period between 1623 and 1650. Ancestry Edit. Princess Diana reportedly had her fair share of fleeting affairs, but there was only one man she fell head over heels for: Hasnat Khan, a 36-year-old Pakistani heart surgeon. A bulletin announced that the royal baby weighed 7 … An American teacher has begun the legal process to exhume the body of one of Princess Diana's dead relatives in a bid to prove she's related to her. William's late mother, Princess Diana, and great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, also were Washington's cousins. She is a second cousin nine times removed of John Coke; a first cousin 13 times removed of George Evelyn (these are all Virginians, of course); a third cousin eight times removed of William Fairfax; a first cousin 11 times removed of William Berkeley; a sixth cousin 10 times removed of Peter Montague; a fifth cousin nine times removed of Daniel Parke Custis. At which point family archivist generally takes over the conversation and things go down hill from there. Now the princess' essential American connection is her great-great-grandfather, Frank Work, of Chillicothe, Ohio and later of New York; and his wife, Ellen Wood Work. Lady Diana is one-fourth Scots, one-sixteenth Irish and Anglo-Irish, and one-eighth American. On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana died of injuries sustained in a car crash in Paris. He did not regard her family as especially notable. American genealogist Gary Boyd Roberts said: "If Lady Diana's son becomes king of England, he will be one-sixteenth American, the first time this has ever occurred. "Now about the invitations," I reminded him, "to the next big family gathering. The latter divisive styling flourish has seen a resurgence this season owing to the popularity of Chanel’s pirate boots (yes, swashbuckling got stylish) and Wellington boots (the tall outdoorsy update to Bottega’s cult stompers). Are we not rightly known among all other nations as the ones who forgive almost anything except beastliness towards old animals (excluding people, of course, who are supposed to take care of themselves). One day she was dressed in sober gray, the next in dazzlingly happy pink. The Spencers claimed descent from a cadet branch of the powerful medieval Despenser family, but its validity is questioned. They understand that the fount of all honor and privilege was The Crown. Have you seen my work in 'Burke's Presidential Families' in which we trace the pedigrees of all American presidents through Reagan? Through her maternal ancestors, Lady Diana is also a distant cousin of the Marquis de Sade, distantly related to Hermann Goering. Only too soon, he struck up a friendship with King George V's second son, Bertie, the Duke of York, who became King George VI in 1936. Ben is not a royal name. He is a preeminent authority on the influence of Syrian and Armenian families in the German noble houses. The rest is … For the appearance, Diana had selected a black strapless taffeta gown for a gala at Goldsmiths' Hall in London, which … They are Gary Boyd Roberts of Boston, a man so far gone in his specialty that he does nothing else and who tells me he makes a financially poor but otherwise rewarding living from ancestral research; and William Addams Reitwiesner, who has been with the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service for nine years and who states he is absolute dust beneath the chariot wheels there, but who loves the place which is so rich in material for genealogical research. Her essential American connection are her great great grandfather, Franklin Work, of Chillicothe, Ohio and later of New York; and his wife, Ellen Wood Work, daughter of John Wood of Shepardstown and Ellen Strong of Philadelphia, whose father, Joseph Strong, was a graduate of Yale in 1788. It was the base of Work's own fortune of $15 million," Roberts recounted. When he became the fourth Baron Fermoy, Maurice returned to live in England with the $3,000,000 which he had inherited from his indomitable but controlling grandfather. There are people who move in, who have not always lived there, and they are not related. The Spencers are direct descendants, albeit illegitimate, of the House of Stuart, with the family boasting at least five lines of direct descent from the Stuarts; and from them, the Spencers trace their ancestry to other royal houses such as the Bourbons [a European royal house of French origin who ruled France and Navarre in the sixteenth century], the Medicis [an Italian banking family and a political dynasty that ruled the Republic of Florence], the Wittelsbachs [members of the family reigned as dukes, electors and kings of Bavaria in Germany], the Hanovers [ruled the electorate and then the Kingdom of Hanover in Germany], the Sforzas [a ruling family of Renaissance Italy], the Habsburgs [also known as the house of Austria], and the houses of Howard and Boleyn through Mary Boleyn, Mistress of Henry VIII of England. In 1865, he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as the first Baron Fermoy by Queen Victoria. At least we are absorbed in our work, we are dedicated. In Virginia it is true that old families are all related. One was tempted, of course, to reflect on Prussian rug salesmen, but back to Work: "How closely related are the several thousand American relatives of the princess?" First Published In 1998, Althorp : Living History. In the late sixteenth century, Sir Robert Spencer represented Brackley in Parliament. In 1995, a little less than a year before Charles and Diana's official divorce, the Princess of Wales confirmed the affair in a famous interview with BBC's Panorama. It is surprising that Armenian connection is so strong and work wonders. She produced three children: Honourable Mary Cynthia, Honourable Frances Ruth, and Honourable Edmund James Burke. "All American do.". Lady Diana herself is eligible through three different ancestors for the Daughters of the American Revolution. However, the "final" links of Princess Di's line to Henry Spencer of Northants, d 1478 appears to be uncertain and not accepted by all. I should point out before I begin my answer that to say “Princess Diana” is incorrect. The common thing among the above celebrities is their roots. oThe Crusades, you know.". ", "I am interested in the social evolution of the western world," said Roberts, "and you can tell a great deal from studying pedigrees -- how classes emerge and rise and fall. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, the great duke's widow, had for many years been regarded as Queen Anne's closest friend and lover. Bits and pieces? So close did they become that the king leased Maurice Park House, a ten-bedroomed house on the Sandringham Estate. I myself am resigned to never making more than $7,000 a year. And Bill here is content with a (low status) job at the Library of Congress, just so he can be near the things he needs for his research. Throughout the eighteenth century grandson overturned his will through the courts in German. 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