Monday, April 11, 2005

Royal Connections Link Camilla Parker Bowles to New England

Those with New England heritage may view this weekend's marriage of Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince Charles with greater interest knowing they may have a kinship connection to the bride. Through work conducted by Gary Boyd Roberts, senior research scholar at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), "a sizable number of New England-derived Americans, including no doubt numerous NEHGS members, will find themselves distantly related to the Duchess of Cornwall."

This week at NotableKin.org, Gary Boyd Roberts writes about "Genealogical Aspects of the Forthcoming Royal Wedding" in which he connects Camilla Parker Bowles to Henry David Thoreau through the New England couple Elisha Jones and Mary Allen. Bowles (née Shand) is a sixth great-granddaughter of the Jones/Allen union. Henry David Thoreau is a great-grandson of the couple.

An attractive pedigree chart, created by Don Stone at LineageCharts.com <http://www.lineagecharts.com/>, accompanies the article, providing an overview of the ancestry that connects the bride of Prince Charles to New England and French Canada. Roberts notes that "Mrs. Parker Bowles has considerable French Canadian ancestry through ... Charlotte [Coursolles]; there is also a line to a very few Pennsylvania residents."

Other relationships covered in the article include Camilla Parker Shand's genealogical link to the late Princess Diana and another rather distant connection to Prince Charles via the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, among others.

Visit www.notablekin.org to download the pedigree chart and read the complete article. For those more interested in famous musicians than in royalty, NotableKin.org has also recently been updated to include four new articles culled from the NEHGS website, NewEnglandAncestors.org. These articles feature notable musicians such as the Beach Boys and Janis Joplin.

Media contact only:
Laura G. Prescott
NEHGS Director of Marketing
617-226-1252
lprescott@nehgs.org

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