Historic Royalty

It is probable that everyone has one - or maybe even a few - royal ancestors. Are you related to royalty? Keep reading to discover photos of your royals.

Everyone alive now is probably related to royalty. So say scientists and genealogists. Why? Because the further back in time you go, the fewer people were alive and the more the chance that there was intermarriage/mating. Compound this with the fact that anybody who had children more than a few hundred years ago is likely to have millions of descendants. So royals were related to many others going back historically and going forward in time. And add the fact that royals - men at least - were especially good at procreation and you will find that everyone has at least some royal ancestry.

Here are just a few examples of prolific royalty:

William the Conqueror had nine children. Since, during his time at least, royals only married royals, his legal heirs became connected to almost every royal house in Europe. This means that today, every single European monarch and his or her family, minor royals, tens of millions of Europeans, and over 1.5 million Americans are related to William the Conqueror.

Charlemagne had 20 children. Since none of his children succeeded in keeping his empire intact, they spread throughout the "known" world. It is estimated that half of Europe (around 250 million people), 100 million people in the United States, and another 250 million across the world are related to Charlemagne.

Genghis Khan had six Mongolian wives, many foreign wives, and countless concubines. So his children were probably in the hundreds. In addition, his son and successor had 40 legal sons. His grandson, Kublai Khan, had 22. So today, nearly 16 million men - one in every 200 men on earth - are directly descended from Genghis Khan.

These European and Asian rulers are just a few of the prolific royals through time and throughout the world. And so, nearly - if not all - of the people on earth have their royal blood flowing through their veins.