As the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee kick off today, I wanted to mark the occasion by drawing attention to the fact that Queen Elizabeth II, like her namesake Queen Elizabeth I, has both Tudor and Boleyn blood.
Our present queen is descended from King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch, through his daughter, Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland:
- Henry VII, King of England (1457-1509) m. Elizabeth of York
- Margaret Tudor (1489-1541) m. James IV, King of Scotland
- James V, King of Scotland (1514-1542) m. Marie de Guise
- Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) m. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
- James VI, King of Scotland/James I, King of England (1566-1625) m. Anne of Denmark
- Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia (1596-1662) m. Frederick V of the Palatinate
- Sophia of Hanover (1630-1714) m. Elector Ernest Augustus
- George I, King of Great Britain (1660-1727) m. Sophia Dorothea of Celle
- George II, King of Great Britain (1683-1760) m. Caroline of Ansbach
- Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751) m. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
- George III, King of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) m. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767-1820) m. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
- Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1819-1901) m. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1841-1910) m. Alexandra of Denmark
- George V, King of the United Kingdom (1865-1936) m. Mary of Teck
- George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1895-1952) m. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
- Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom (b. 1926) m. Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Prince of Greece and Denmark)
And here is her line of descent from Mary Boleyn, sister of Queen Anne Boleyn and daughter of Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond and Elizabeth Howard:
- Mary Boleyn (d. 1543) m. William Carey
- Catherine Carey (c.1524-1569) m. Sir Francis Knollys
- Lettice Knollys (1543-1634) m. Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex
- Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565-1601) m. Frances Walsingham
- Frances Devereux (1599-1674) m. William Seymour, Duke of Somerset
- Jane Seymour (1637-1679) m. Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan
- Charles Boyle, 2nd Earl of Burlington (d. 1704) m. Juliana Noel
- Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1695-1753) m. Dorothy Savile
- Charlotte Elizabeth Boyle (1731-1754) m. William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
- Dorothy Cavendish (1750-1794) m. William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister
- Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Charles Bentinck (1780-1826) m. Anne Wellesley (Lady Abdy)
- Reverend Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (1817-1865) m. Carolina Louis Burnaby
- Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck (1862-1938) m. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne
- Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002) m. King George VI
- Queen Elizabeth II (1926- ) m. Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Prince of Greece and Denmark)
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, have Boleyn blood twice over as they are descended from Mary Boleyn through their father, Charles, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, AND their late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Click here to read more about that.
