Kate Middleton’s family tree is today’s post. That featured image above comes courtesy of Magnus D‘s Flickr photograph, entitled The royal family on the balcony. 

Debunked: Kate Middleton’s family tree – a link to Henry VIII

An update 12 years later to this post, as a sharp-eyed reader notes that the Princess of Wales’s putative Tudor link has been disproven, despite claims from the Spectator (broken link) and others at the time of the 2011 royal wedding.

Before he fell in love with Anne Boleyn and upended his kingdom to marry her, Henry VIII had a four-year affair with her older sister, Mary. During the affair Mary Boleyn bore two children, Catherine in 1524 and Henry in 1526, who are widely considered to be Henry’s children. Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Boleyn Girl, notes, “Catherine was born at the height of Henry’s passion for her mother.” Catherine is Kate Middleton’s direct ancestor.

Kate Middleton’s Family Tree

Instead, please visit this page: The ancestry of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner and Michael J. Wood. Having not visited their source links, I leave it to my readers to review and decide.

To recap other Middleton family tree news: it’s already established that William and Kate are 12th cousins once removed through their common ancestor, the 16th century soldier Sir Thomas Leighton. The New England Historic Genealogical Society has proven Middleton’s ties to George Washington, Meriwether Lewis, and George Patton. I posted the other day about another line of Catherine Middleton’s leading to Edward III in 1312.

Catherine’s mother’s side of the family, the Harrisons and Goldsmiths, have made the news, too.

Stay tuned for more news on Catherine Middleton’s family tree, as more is sure to surface.