BBC show reveals London mayor Boris Johnson's royal roots
Tuesday, 05 Aug 2008 08:14
BBC show reveals Boris Johnson is distant relative of Royal Family
Boris Johnson is a distant relative of the British Royal Family, it has been revealed.
The BBC's genealogy programme Who Do you Think You Are? has discovered that the London mayor is the great x eight grandson of King George II.
Johnson's paternal grandmother, Yvonne Eileen Williams - known in his family as Granny Butter - was the daughter of Marie-Louise de Pfeffel, a descendant of German prince Paul Von Wurttemburg.
He was, in turn, a direct descendant of George II.
And as well as his links to the present British Royal Family, Johnson is also linked to the Swedish and Dutch royals as well as the Romanoff dynasty.
However, the discovery does not foreshadow Johnson taking the throne in a real-life echo of the comedy film King Ralph - he shares his relation to George II with 1,023 other people.
"If you had told me that I was related to George II, I would have thought you were absolutely crackers, not even Granny Butter could have come up with that one," the mayor commented.
"I would have been terribly proud just to have been related to the German King but I can't hide it from you that even in our common European home, I am particularly thrilled to have some British Royal Ancestry as well."
He added: "I felt I was the product of newcomers to Britain so it is totally bizarre, surreal in fact, to be told that in fact my great x eight granddad is George II.
"What it really teaches me is that our genes pulse down our lives and we don't really know where they have come from and where they are going. Fundamentally in the end it is all very democratic."
The episode of Who Do You Think You Are? revealing Johnson's royal links will be broadcast on August 20th.