Tuesday, July 23, 2019

The Family Ties Between The Queen and Her Prime Ministers

Since her reign began in 1952, HM The Queen has seen fourteen Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom come and go. However distantly, a number of this politicians are somehow or another related to the queen. Below we will see the familial connections between Queen Elizabeth II and a number of these leaders in British politics.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) served as the British Prime Minister from 1940-1945 and again from 1951-1955. Churchill was the first of the queen's prime ministers. HM and Winston Churchill are seventh cousins once removed through their common descent from William Russell, Lord Russell (1639-1683) and Rachel Wriothesley (1637-1723. See link.


Sir Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (1897-1977), served as the second of the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom under HM The Queen. Eden was in office from 1955-1957. Sir Anthony Eden and Queen Elizabeth are ninth cousins by virtue of their both being descendants of Edward Villiers (d.1626) and Barbara St John (1592-1672). See link.


Sir Alexander "Alec" Frederick Douglas-Home (1903-1995) was the fourth Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under HM The Queen. Douglas-Home held the post from 1963-1964. Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Queen Elizabeth II are sixth cousins through their common descent from Thomas Lyon, Earl of Strathmore (1704-1753), and Jean Nicholson (1713-1778). See link.


Anthony "Tony" Charles Lynton Blair (b.1953) was the tenth British Prime Minister to serve Queen Elizabeth II; Mr Blair was also the first prime minister to be born during the current monarch's reign. Blair was prime minister from 1997-2007. Tony Blair and HM The Queen are twelfth cousins owing to their mutual descent from George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes (d.1558) and Agnes Somerville. See link.

David William Donald Cameron (b.1966) served as the twelfth Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010-2016 during Queen Elizabeth's reign. Cameron was also the second prime minister to be born during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. David Cameron and The Queen are fifth cousins three times removed through their common descent from King George III (1738-1820) and Queen Charlotte (1744-1818; née Mecklenburg-Strelitz). See link.


Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (b.1964) became the fourteenth and most recent Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 23 July 2019. Mr Johnson and HM The Queen share a common descent from Duke Friedrich II Eugen of Württemberg (1732-1797) and Margravine Sophie Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1736-1798). Through this line, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Johnson are fifth cousins twice removed. See link.


HM The Queen is related to Prime Ministers Churchill, Eden, Douglas-Home, and Blair through her maternal ancestors via HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (1900-2002; née Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon). Queen Elizabeth is related to Prime Ministers Cameron and Johnson through her paternal ancestors via HM King George VI (1895-1952). Six - nearly half - of the fourteen prime ministers to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1952 are related to their Sovereign. 

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