She was the first ‘commoner’ to marry a future monarch in 350 years, but new research has revealed the Duchess of Cambridge has blue blood in her veins.
An Australian school teacher has unearthed a previously-unknown branch of the Middleton family tree, which links Kate to a former British Prime Minister, as well as countesses and earls.
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Melbourne high school teacher Michael Reed stumbled across the link while setting a genealogy assignment for his class.
He discovered Kate is related to William Petty FitzMaurice, the 1st Marquess of Lansdowne and British Prime Minister from 1782 to 1783.
She is also linked to the prosperous Lupton family, including Lady Bullock, who is her second cousin three times removed.
“This week we have learnt, courtesy of my British Politics and History class, that Kate Middleton’s second cousin (thrice removed) is a Lady Bullock,” Reed told The Weekly.
“Yes! Yes! — blue blood at last! Incredibly, pompous British genealogists the world over for the past decade have never picked this up. It took someone from the ‘clever country’ Australia!”
Reed contacted Edward, the surviving son of Lady Bullock, who confirmed the connection.
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He also sent his findings to Kate, who thanked him for the research.
Kate’s new noble lineage will be included in the next edition of aristocracy guide Burke’s Peerage, which is due to be published after the birth of William and Kate’s first child next year.
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