Kate Middleton’s American Connections include President, General
Boston, MA – November 16, 2010 – Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) in Boston today announced that Kate Middleton, Prince William’s fiancée, is related to three iconic figures(chart) in American history. Like the Queen Mother and Princess Diana before her, Kate Middleton is a cousin of America’s first president, George Washington. She is an 8th cousin eight times removed to Washington, sharing an ancestor, Sir William Gascoigne, who died in 1487.
Among the future queen’s other American cousins are explorer Meriwether Lewis, a 9th cousin seven times removed, and World War II general George S. Patton, a 13th cousin three times removed. “These connections will give the Royal family deeper associations with American history,” said the Society’s senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts. He added, “Their child will be linked to colonial America in New England, the mid-Atlantic, and the South.” Roberts, who specializes in celebrity and Royal genealogy, is the author of several books including Ancestors of American Presidents.
William and Kate are themselves fifteenth cousins through Sir Thomas Fairfax, who died during the reign of Henry VIII. A branch of his family moved to Virginia in the mid-17th century.
