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The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) announces the release of a new book examining twelve generations of the ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales, to mark the tenth anniversary of her death in 1997. Years in the making, the book, “The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales, for Twelve Generations,” by Atlanta-based genealogist Richard K. Evans, documents the princess’s family history in Great Britain, Europe, and the United States. This remarkable book shows that she descends from kings and commoners, scholars and their patrons, murderers and their victims, prime ministers, and at least one court jester. The book, available on the NEHGS website, www.NewEnglandAncestors.org, as well as on Amazon.com, is the most comprehensive of its kind and represents a new area of genealogical publishing for the Boston-based nonprofit society. “We are very proud to offer this important book,” said D. Brenton Simons, NEHGS President and CEO. “Diana’s work and life continue to inspire people worldwide, and providing her family history gives readers a new view of her remarkable story.” Diana, who died tragically in a car accident in Paris in August 1997, remains one of the most recognizable and cherished figures in the world today. From the ancestors detailed in “The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales,” NEHGS can also trace the princess’s relatives to modern-day Americans. For example, based on research from the book, NEHGS discovered connections between Diana and such famous figures as Thomas Jefferson, Susan B. Anthony, Emily Dickinson, Katharine Hepburn, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan, David Rockefeller, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. Some of these ancestral charts can be seen at the NEHGS website. This exhaustively researched portrait of the late Princess’s forebears shows the rise and fall of families through luck, pluck, intelligence, and the occasional well-turned ankle. With more than three centuries under review, it is possible to see time running backward, revealing the exalted – or modest – origins of some of Great Britain’s most interesting historical figures. “‘The Ancestry of Diana, Princess of Wales,’ adds enormously to genealogical literature on the British royal family,” notes Gary Boyd Roberts, Senior Research Scholar Emeritus at NEHGS. “It both identifies the forebears Diana brought to the royal family and suggests much of this ancestry’s social breadth, offering a ‘capsule view’ of British history that may well be shared by all future British monarchs. Genealogists, royalty scholars, kinsmen (including many Americans), and the millions who admired the late Princess will certainly enjoy this book.” Other Interesting Ancestors: One of Diana’s more prominent American ancestors was Joseph Strong, who served in the U.S. Army as a doctor and became a respected physician in Philadelphia. Among Strong’s first cousins was Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale. Queen Anne left no surviving children, but Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, the Queen’s best friend and confidant, is one of the most prominent of Diana’s female forebears. One of the Princess’s maternal great-grandfathers was an Irish peer who married an American “dollar princess,” daughter of millionaire Wall Street broker Frank Work. This alliance was typical of many nineteenth-century transatlantic marriages, bringing infusions of American capital to the cash-starved European and British nobility. The marriage gives Diana more than one hundred American ancestors, some of whom were among the early settlers of New England. A significant twelfth-generation ancestor was Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, whose excessive ambition displeased his sovereign and ultimately led him to the chopping block. Diana descends from three of the four favorites of King James VI and I of Scotland and England, although only the 1st Earl of Somerset is included in this volume. The Princess descends twice from the handsome Duke of Gordon and his wife, Jane Maxwell, known for her vivacity and wit, and famous for raising the Gordon Highlanders from her husband’s estates. Another Scots forebear was Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, general of the forces that invaded Scotland in support of Monmouth’s rebellion in 1685. As a result, Argyll lost his head at the same place where his father, the 1st Marquess of Argyll, was decapitated for changing sides one time too many during the English Civil War. About NEHGS The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, has more than 23,000 members nationally, making it the oldest and largest non-profit genealogical organization in the country. The NEHGS library and archives, located in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, includes more than 5,000 linear feet of shelves holding millions of manuscripts, letters, periodicals, books, documents, and other rare and valuable items. These collections provide genealogists of all levels and expertise immeasurable access to their own family histories and stories. The NEHGS staff includes some of the most respected and experienced genealogists in the country, specializing in early American, English, Irish, Scottish, and Canadian research.
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For more information please visit www.NewEnglandAncestors.org.
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