Royalty

Macumbeira at "History at 30,000 feet" just posted a link, which suggests we are "all" related to royalty. See:

http://nautil.us/issue/56/perspective/youre-descended-from-royalty-and-so-is-eve...

I've seen similar claims for people like William the Conqueror or Charlemagne. Partly it is a numeric thing. If you go back far enough, the number of people in your potential tree exceeds the population on Earth at any given time.

Tracing them accurately is another issue.

When it comes to nearer connections with royalty, it is important to remember that there were many genealogy scams. People paid sometimes surprising amounts to have a pedigree researched and printed and yet the work is unprovable from independent extant sources. One such hook for several fraudulent genealogies is Anneke Jans Bogardus (1605-1663). People who were duped by this would mention their famous connections in county histories and similar publications with genealogical content. By "proving" a connection to this person, people were hoping to join what was effectively a class-action lawsuit against Trinity Church in NYC for ownership of valuable lands in Manhattan.

There are other genealogy scams of a similar type. A distant relative in my family was taken in by one of them.

James

One interesting site diagramming the complicated royal lines of Britain, from Alfred the Great to the present, a diagram which includes many of the royal lines and in other European nations See:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilalzTsVp_Q

I have had success in finding royalty by first connecing to one (or more) of the US presidents. They are closer and there is quite a bit of material available. Then the books on them will generally connect back to the British royalty (one to the Dutch). Have fun