What do you and Prince Harry and HRH Prince William have in common? The exciting possibility is that you and they are cousins, as well as cousins to both of their royal parents.
In the film The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Mary Boleyn is depicted as having had a five-year relationship as mistress of Henry VIII, King of England–despite her marriage to William Carey, Gentleman of the Privy and Esquire of the Body of the King. William was not allowed at court during the time of Mary’s affair with the King. The question concerning the paternity of Mary’s two children, William Carey (1st Baron Hunsden) and Dame Catherine Carey by Henry VIII is raised by author Marston Watson in his book entitled Royal Families: Americans of Royal and Noble Ancestry. Volume Four: Pelham – Avery – West.
Thousands of Americans share the same lineage to Mary Boleyn as the descendants of General George Washington’s half-brother Augustine Washington and Colonel John Dandridge, father of George Washington’s wife Martha Dandridge. Other notable kin include the progeny of Johannes Peter Rockefeller, Reverend Peter Bulkeley, and Pocahontas. The fourteen children of the two wives of American Revolution patriot Patrick Henry, and their progenies, can claim the same ancestry to Mary Boleyn.
Other Americans share the same lineage through their descendancy from Herbert Pelham of Massachusetts, the first Treasurer of Harvard College in 1643, Captain Thomas Avery of Connecticut, and three West brothers who were early governors of Virginia (Thomas, Francis & John), sons of Thomas West, 2nd Lord De La Warr. The prominent Armstead, Carter and Spotswood families left descendants of Mary Boleyn as well.
Royal Families: Pelham-Avery-West runs to 900-pages, begins with Thomas West, 2nd Lord De La Warr and his wife Lady Anne Knollys, daughter of Dame Catherine Carey and granddaughter of Mary Boleyn. His 12th-generation lineage from Mary Boleyn is shared with HM Elizabeth II and Edward John Spencer, father of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales. Royal Families: Pelham-Avery-West is filled with notable kin, as well as numerous Mayflower descendants of Mary Boleyn. Thousands of Americans, whose ancestors are identified in this significant publication, can claim their heritage to that other Boleyn girl, older sister of Anne Boleyn who, after Mary’s affair, became the second wife of Henry VIII.
