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Boris Johnson's Royal ancestry revealed
London Mayor Boris Johnson is distantly related to the British
Royal Family, it is revealed in the new series of BBC One's Who Do You
Think You Are?
The programme finds that Boris's paternal grandmother, Yvonne
Eileen Williams, who was affectionally known in the family as
"Granny Butter" and whose family name was de Pfeffel, was a descendant of Prince Paul Von Wurttemberg. The German
prince was, in turn, a direct descendant of George II.
This discovery means that Boris Johnson is not only distantly
related, albeit very far removed, to the present Royal Family but
also to all the royal houses of Europe, including the Swedish and
Dutch royal families, as well as the Romanoffs.
Speaking in the programme about his newly found lineage, Boris
Johnson says: "If you had told me that I was related to George II, I would have
thought you were absolutely crackers - not even Granny Butter
could have come up with that one.
"I would have been terribly proud just to have been related to
the German king, but I can't hide it from you that, even in our
common European home, I am particularly thrilled to have some
British royal ancestry as well.
"I felt I was the product of newcomers to Britain so it is
totally bizarre, surreal in fact, to be told that in fact my Great x 8 Granddad
is George II. But don't neglect the point that he
shares that distinction with 1,023 others – there must be several
thousand other people out there in the same position.
"What it really teaches me is that our genes pulse down our lives
and we don't really know where they have come from and where they
are going. Fundamentally in the end it is all very democratic."
Boris Johnson lineage – paternal maternal line
Father:
Stanley Johnson
Grandparents (parents of Stanley):
Wilfred Johnson and (nee) Yvonne Eileen (Irene) Williams
Great-grandparents (parents of Yvonne):
Stanley Williams and (nee) Marie-Louise de Pfeffel
Great x 2 grandparents (parents of Marie-Louise):
Baron Hubert de Pfeffel and (nee) Helene Arnous-Riviere
Great x 3 grandparents (parents of Hubert):
Baron Charles de Pfeffel and (nee) Karoline von Rothenburg
Great x 4 grandparents (unmarried parents of Karoline):
Friederike Margrethe Port (actress) and Prince Paul Von Wurttemburg
Great x 5 grandparents (parents of Prince Paul):
Friedrich II(I) Wilhelm Karl Konig Von Württemburg and (nee)
Auguste Caroline Friederike Luis Prinzessin Von Braunshweig-Walfenbuttel
Great x 6 grandparents (parents of Auguste Caroline):
Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Herzog von Braunshweig-Wolfenbuttel and
(nee) Augusta Hanover, Princess Royal of Great Britain and Ireland
Great x 7 grandparents (parents of Augusta Hanover):
Frederick Louis Hanover, Prince of Wales and (nee) Auguste Prinzessin von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg
Great x 8 grandparents (parents of Frederick Louis Hanover):
George II Augustus Hanover, King of Great Britain and (nee)
Wilhelmine Charlotte Karoline Prinzessin von Brandenburg-Ansbach
Notes to Editors
The new series of Who Do You Think You Are? starts on Wednesday 13
August 2008 on BBC One with Holby City star Pasty Kensit.
Boris Johnson's episode will be transmitted on 20 August.
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