"Who Do You Think You Are" Series 13, Episode #1: Danny Dyer

[sallyyorks]

I have read a report that 99% of British people are descended from Edward III? ...

It is an interesting theory but not sure how it can be true.
The population in Britain would have been about 3 million. From that the nobility, and their immediate circle, would have been just a few thousand?
Not sure that most people would have come into any contact with the aristocracy in their lifetime. Most people would have been peasant class agricultural labourers and would have married into their own kind.

[JAKnighton]

I have read a report that 99% of British people are descended from Edward III? ...

It is an interesting theory but not sure how it can be true.
The population in Britain would have been about 3 million. From that the nobility, and their immediate circle, would have been just a few thousand?
Not sure that most people would have come into any contact with the aristocracy in their lifetime. Most people would have been peasant class agricultural labourers and would have married into their own kind.

A few thousand is more than enough in order for all their descendants, which would be in the millions, to have spread their genetic material in the time between the 1300s and now.

All it takes is one person of royal blood to have had a child with a commoner, and then that child's descendants would spread their DNA through the peasant class in many different families through the generations.

[sallyyorks]

A few thousand is more than enough in order for all their descendants, which would be in the millions, to have spread their genetic material in the time between the 1300s and now.

All it takes is one person of royal blood to have had a child with a commoner, and then that child's descendants would spread their DNA through the peasant class in many different families through the generations.

But that still leaves millions of peasant families who had no contact at all with the few hundred who were of royal blood.
Even if some did mix across the class divide and lets face it those numbers would be small, that still leaves a huge majority of peasant class who did not mix with the tiny minority of land owning class. The sheer numbers of peasant class are too large to make any significant difference. 
Some people might have royal heritage but I think most wouldn't?

[andrewalston]

I liked the way that the family were convinced that "Buttivant" was some variant of a French surname.

"Buttevant" is a town in Co. Cork, coincidentally given a charter by Edward III.

[jennifer c]

Do you think the Queen is telling people she is related to Danny Dyer👑

[JAKnighton]

A few thousand is more than enough in order for all their descendants, which would be in the millions, to have spread their genetic material in the time between the 1300s and now.

All it takes is one person of royal blood to have had a child with a commoner, and then that child's descendants would spread their DNA through the peasant class in many different families through the generations.

But that still leaves millions of peasant families who had no contact at all with the few hundred who were of royal blood.
Even if some did mix across the class divide and lets face it those numbers would be small, that still leaves a huge majority of peasant class who did not mix with the tiny minority of land owning class. The sheer numbers of peasant class are too large to make any significant difference. 
Some people might have royal heritage but I think most wouldn't?

You'd think they wouldn't, but most in fact do. It's genetically proven: http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/were-all-descended-from-charlemagne-and-related-to-each-other/

Keep in mind that all the families who existed at the time of Edward III, had descendants who intermarried with each other in the following 700 years. So it takes relatively few royal ancestors to be involved for them to eventually be the ancestors of all of us.

[Mowsehowse]

What a shame all the publicity meant we were not as shocked as Danny Dyer was..... but it certainly flags up issues around the "nature /  nurture" debate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chempat]

Interesting article:

https://thewildpeak.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/how-many-ancestors-do-you-have/

[BushInn1746]

Was surprisingly enjoyable - and nice genealogy - not just a story about one quite recent ancestor made into a whole show.

Quite endearing that he didn't know about Thomas Cromwell or that Jane Seymour's ancestry was going to lead to Edward III et al.
Being Irish, I'm not a royalist but my interest in their history was one of the first clues that I loved genealogy.

Hello

If my memory serves me correct, didn't they go sideways, via a marriage to a Tollemache?

They didn't feature the research by the freelance Genealogist who suddenly produced a sheet going back a number of generations, from the GRO Certificate of Albert Buttivant of Whitechapel. This was the bit I really wanted to see for a few tips! However, Buttivant is a rare surname on Free BMD and a rare surname can really help, when tracing back your ancestry.

I'll watch again.

Regards Mark