until the accession of the House of Bourbon to the throne in 1593, far beyond that of their senior cousins reigning in Nancy. Mandela: Nelson Mandela, the late president of the Republic of South Africa, was a male-line great-grandson of King Ngubengcuka of the Thembu nation of Southern African Xhosas. Be that as it may, he was, and fellow members of the Mandela branch of the Thembus' ruling royal dynasty are, ineligible to succeed to the ancestral throne because they all descend from Ngubengcuka's morganatic marriage to a woman of a ritually inferior family. As such, their traditional role in the kingdom is that of hereditary privy counsellors to Thembu monarchs, unable to succeed to the throne themselves. In addition to this the family's recognized leader, Chief Mandla Mandela, also serves by tradition as the tribal chieftain of Mvezo under the authority of his relative the paramount chief of Thembuland, currently King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo. Spencer: the comital branch of the Spencer family descended from John Spencer, the youngest son of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Lady Anne Churchill. The couple's eldest son Robert inherited his father's title of Earl of Sunderland. When Robert, 4th Earl of Sunderland, died without an heir, his paternal titles passed to his younger brother, Charles, who later inherited the title of Duke of Marlborough upon the death of his aunt Henrietta, and became the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. Charles' descendants (later known as the Spencer-Churchills) became the senior branch of the Spencer family. His younger brother, John, had an only son, also named John, who became the 1st Earl Spencer. From the line of the Earls Spencer descend many prominent figures, including Diana, Princess of Wales, whose son Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, was born heir eventual to the Crown of the United Kingdom. Wellington: Arthur Wellesley, the younger brother of Richard Wellesley, the 2nd Earl of Mornington, started his career as a protégé of his older brother. He entered the military, a traditional occupation of younger sons. From 1809 to 1814 he won a series of very significant victories, and was awarded a series of ascending titles; Baron Douro, Viscount Wellington, Earl of Wellington, Marquess of Wellington and, finally, Duke of Wellington. A descendant of Baron Cowley, youngest brother of Richard Wellesley, became Earl of Cowley in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, his junior line of the family thereby also achieving