The Royal Blood Myth

The Royal Blood Myth: Are We Really All Descended from Kings and Queens?

If you've spent any time in genealogy circles or even just mentioned that you're researching your ancestry, there's a high chance someone has said something like:
"Well, you know, everyone’s descended from royalty.”

It’s one of those phrases that gets tossed around like it's a given. It sounds impressive. It flatters the imagination. But when you take the time to break it down, the truth is more complicated, and honestly, more interesting.

The Numbers Game

Let’s start with the math.

Every generation you go back, your number of ancestors doubles. You have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. By the time you're 30 generations back (roughly 800–900 years), you have over a billion theoretical slots in your family tree. But there weren’t a billion people alive in Europe at that time.

That’s where pedigree collapse comes in. In real life, cousins (sometimes close ones) married, especially in small or rural communities. So some ancestors appear multiple times in your tree. It’s not unusual to descend from the same person through several lines, even unknowingly. This overlap means the further back you go, the more likely it is that somewhere in your tree, you’re connected to the same individuals who show up in the trees of thousands, or millions of others.

Does that mean everyone alive today with European ancestry has royal ancestors? Mathematically? It's possible. But that doesn't mean you personally can claim it or prove it.

The Proof Problem

In genealogy, possibility is not the same as proof.

Just because a lineage could reach back to a medieval king doesn’t mean yours does. The only way to know is to trace it out, generation by generation, with actual evidence: parish records, civil registrations, court documents, land deeds, wills, tax rolls. And the further back you go, the fewer records survive. For the average family line, reliable documentation typically starts to thin out in the 1700s, sometimes the 1600s if you're lucky and your ancestors owned land or were part of a church that kept detailed records.

Jumping from your 4x great-grandfather, a farmer in New Jersey, to a 12th-century English noble without documentation isn't a leap, it's a canyon. And in genealogy, leaps are how myths are made.

Why We Want It to Be True

It’s worth asking: why does this myth appeal to us?

Part of it is cultural. For centuries, royalty was the center of attention, the main cast in the historical drama. Being connected to that makes us feel like we’re part of the story. There's also a hint of wish fulfillment: that maybe we come from something grander, more powerful, more historically significant than our current situation.

But the truth is, royalty were a tiny fraction of the population. The overwhelming majority of people were laborers, tradespeople, peasants, villagers, people whose lives were hard, whose records were minimal, and who likely never came within ten miles of a castle.

And yet, these are the people whose choices, migrations, marriages, and survival created you. That deserves respect, not dismissal.

What “Royal Descent” Actually Looks Like

It is possible to trace royal descent if you come from a family that was landed, noble, or otherwise documented in the right region at the right time. Royal lines do have better record preservation. Some were documented in detail by monastic scribes or court officials, especially in England, France, and Scandinavia. But that kind of research is serious, time-consuming, and often not free of complications. Surname changes, illegitimacy, lost records, and errors in published genealogies all introduce risk.

If you do have a well-documented noble connection, great. It’s worth exploring. But it’s not a shortcut, and it doesn’t make your ancestry more “valid” than someone else’s.

What Actually Matters

In my work, the most rewarding stories haven’t come from tracing royal lines. They’ve come from finding the missing great-grandmother no one talked about. From locating an immigrant ancestor’s village after generations of guessing. From connecting adoptees with birth families. From showing people the lives of those who endured war, famine, migration, and change and made it through.

If you want to know where you come from, start with what you can prove. Work backward, one step at a time. Document your findings. Build your tree with care. And whether or not it ends in a crown, you’ll find something worth knowing.