Ancestry William's ancestry is royal and aristocratic. Patrilineally, he is a member of the House of Windsor and also descends from the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe's oldest royal houses. More specifically, he descends from the cadet branch known as the House of Glücksburg. Through his mother, William descends from the Earls Spencer—a cadet branch of the Spencer family descended from the Earls of Sunderland; the senior branch are now also Dukes of Marlborough; the Barons Fermoy; and more anciently from Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, and Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond—two illegitimate sons of King Charles II. As king, William would be the first monarch since the death of Anne in 1714 to undisputedly descend from Charles I and the first to descend from Charles II. William descends matrilineally from Eliza Kewark, a housekeeper for his eighteenth-century ancestor Theodore Forbes—a Scottish merchant who worked for the East India Company in Surat. She is variously described in contemporary documents as "a dark-skinned native woman", "an Armenian woman from Bombay", and "Mrs. Forbesian". Genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner assumed Kewark was Armenian. In June 2013, BritainsDNA announced that genealogical DNA tests on two of William's distant matrilineal cousins confirm Kewark was matrilineally of Indian descent. Bibliography Books HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, "Preface", in: HRH Prince William, "Introduction", in: HRH The Duke of Cambridge, "Foreword", in: HRH The Duke of Cambridge, "Foreword", in: Authored letters and articles See also Royal William, a German red rose named after Prince William shortly after his birth List of covers of Time magazine (1990s), (2010s) Footnotes References Further reading Books Articles External links The Prince of Wales at the official website of the British royal family The Duke of Cornwall at the Duchy of Cornwall website The Prince of Wales at the website of the Government of Canada |- |- |- |- |- |- 1982 births Living people 20th-century British people 21st-century British Army personnel 21st-century Royal Air Force personnel 21st-century Royal Navy personnel Alumni of the University of St Andrews Blues and Royals officers British Anglicans British environmentalists British geographers British humanitarians British male water polo players British polo players Cambridge, William Dukes of Cambridge Dukes of Cornwall Dukes of Rothesay Earls or mormaers of Strathearn Family of Charles III Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Helicopter pilots Heirs to the British throne Heirs apparent House of Windsor Knights of