Queen Elizabeth II, present sovereign of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, is the daughter of George VI, the second-eldest son of George V and Mary of Teck; and of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth, and, after her daughter's accession to the throne, the Queen Mother), the daughter of Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his wife, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
Queen Elizabeth II is the male-line great-granddaughter of Edward VII, who inherited the crown from his mother, Queen Victoria. His father, Victoria's consort, was Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; hence Queen Elizabeth is a patrilineal descendant of Albert's family, the German princely House of Wettin. (Other notable members of this house are King Albert II of Belgium and former King Simeon II of Bulgaria.) Traced as far as possible, Elizabeth's male-line ancestry stretches back to Conrad the Great of Meissen; see Patrilineal descent of Elizabeth II.
Through Victoria, as well as several other of her great-great-grandparents, Elizabeth is directly descended from many British royals: from the House of Stuart, from Mary, Queen of Scots, Robert the Bruce, and earlier Scottish royal houses, from the House of Tudor, and earlier English royal houses stretching back as far as the 7th century House of Wessex; one member of Wessex being Aethelflaed of Wessex's younger sister, Elfthryth.
As a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she is related to the heads of most other reigning and non-reigning European royal houses. Through her great-grandmother Queen Alexandra, she is descended from the Danish royal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a line of the North German house of Oldenburg, one of the oldest in Europe. (Other members of the House of Glücksburg include Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, as well as Margrethe II of Denmark, Harald V of Norway, Queen Sofia of Spain and former King Constantine II of Greece-—each of whom is also descended from Queen Victoria; one of her many cousins is King Juan Carlos I of Spain, also a great-great-grandson of Victoria). Elizabeth is likewise descendant of Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange (1687–1711), who is the most recent common ancestor to all reigning European royal houses.
Elizabeth bears lineage from, amongst others, Armenian, Arab, Chinese, Cuman, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Monegasque, Norwegian, Old Prussian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yugoslavian ethnicities.[1]
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This table sets out the ancestry of Queen Elizabeth II for eight generations, numbered according to the Ahnentafel genealogical numbering system.
1. Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Generation 2 (Parents)
2. George VI of the United Kingdom
3. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Generation 3 (Grandparents)
4. George V of the United Kingdom (father of 2)
5. Mary of Teck (mother of 2)
6. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (father of 3)
7. Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck (mother of 3)
Generation 4 (Great-Grandparents)
8. Edward VII of the United Kingdom (father of 4)
9. Alexandra of Denmark (mother of 4)
10. Prince Francis, Duke of Teck (father of 5)
11. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (mother of 5)
12. Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (father of 6)
13. Frances Dora Smith (mother of 6)
14. Reverend Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (father of 7) - 2nd marriage
15. Caroline Louisa Burnaby (mother of 7)
Generation 5 (2nd Great-Grandparents)
16. Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (father of 8)
17. Victoria of the United Kingdom (mother of 8)
18. Christian IX of Denmark (father of 9)
19. Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (mother of 9)
20. Duke Alexander of Württemberg (father of 10)
21. Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (mother of 10)
22. Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (father of 11)
23. Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel (or Hesse-Kassel) (mother of 11)
24. Thomas George Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis (father of 12)
25. Charlotte Grimstead (mother of 12)
26. Oswald Smith (father of 13)
27. Henrietta Mildred Hodgson (mother of 13)
28. Lord Charles Bentinck (father of 14)
29. Anne Wellesley, former Lady Abdy (mother of 14)
30. Edwyn Burnaby (father of 15)
31. Anne Caroline Salisbury (mother of 15)
Generation 6 (3rd Great-Grandparents)
32. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (father of 16)
33. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (mother of 16)
34. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (father of 17)
35. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Dowager Princess of Leiningen (mother of 17)
36. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (father of 18)
37. Landgravine Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (mother of 18)
38. Landgrave William of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (father of 19)
39. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark (mother of 19)
40. Duke Louis of Württemberg (father of 20)
41. Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (mother of 20)
42. Count Ladislaus Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (father of 21)
43. Baroness Agnes Inczedy de Nagy-Várad (mother of 21)
44. George III of the United Kingdom (father of 22)
45. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (mother of 22)
46. Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (father of 23)
47. Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen (mother of 23)
48. Thomas Lyon-Bowes, 11th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (father of 24)
49. Mary Carpenter (mother of 24)
50. Joseph Grimstead (father of 25)
51. Charlotte Walsh (mother of 25)
52. George Smith (father of 26)
53. Frances Mosley (mother of 26)
54. Reverend Robert Hodgson (father of 27)
55. Mary Tucker (mother of 27)
56. William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (father of 28)
57. Lady Dorothy Cavendish (mother of 28)
58. Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (father of 29)
59. Hyacinth Roland (mother of 29)
60. Edwin Andrew Burnaby (father of 30)
61. Mary Browne (mother of 30)
62. Thomas Salisbury (father of 31)
63. Frances Webb (mother of 31)
Generation 7 (4th Great-Grandparents)
64. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (father of 32)
65. Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (mother of 32)
66. Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (father of 33)
67. Duchess Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (mother of 33)
68. George III of the United Kingdom (father of 34)
69. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (mother of 34)
70. same person as 64
71. same person as 65
72. Frederick Charles Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Beck (father of 36)
73. Countess Friederike of Schlieben (mother of 36)
74. Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel (father of 37)
75. Princess Louise of Denmark and Norway (mother of 37)
76. Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (father of 38)
77. Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen (mother of 38)
78. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway (father of 39)
79. Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (mother of 39)
80. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg (father of 40)
81. Margravine Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt (mother of 40)
82. Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg (father of 41)
83. Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau (mother of 41)
Generation 8 (5th Great-Grandparents)
144. Karl Anton August, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (father of 72)
145. Countess Frederica of Dohna-Schlobitten (mother of 72)
146. Charles Leopold, Count of Schlieben (father of 73)
147. Countess Maria Eleonore of Lehndorff (mother of 73)
148. Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (father of 74 & 76)
149. Princess Mary of Great Britain (mother of 74 & 76)
150. Frederick V of Denmark (father of 75 & 78)
151. Princess Louise of Great Britain (mother of 75)
152. same person as 148
153. same person as 149
154. Charles William, Prince of Nassau-Usingen (father of 77)
155. Countess Caroline Felicitas of Leiningen-Heidesheim (mother of 77)
156. same person as 150
157. Duchess Juliane Marie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (mother of 78)
158. Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (father of 79)
159. Princess Charlotte Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (mother of 79)
Generation 9 (6th Great-Grandparents)
288. Frederick Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Beck (father of 144)
289. Landgravine Sophie of Hesse-Philippsthal (mother of 144)
290. Albert Christoph, Count of Dohna-Schlobitten (father of 145)
291. Princess Sophie Henriette of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Beck (mother of 145)
292. George Adam, Count of Schlieben (father of 146)
293. Countess Katharina Dorothea Finck of Finckenstein (mother of 146)
294. Ahasverus Ernst, Count of Lehndorff (father of 147)
295. Marie Louise of Wallenrodt (mother of 147)
296. William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (father of 148)
297. Princess Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz (mother of 148)
298. George II of Great Britain (father of 149 & 151)
299. Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (mother of 149 & 151)
300. Christian VI of Denmark (father of 150)
301. Margravine Sophia Magdalena of Brandenburg-Culmbach (mother of 150)
302. same person as 298
303. same person as 299
304. same person as 296
305. same person as 297
306. same person as 298
307. same person as 299
308. Charles, Prince of Nassau-Usingen (father of 154)
309. Princess Christiane Wilhelmine of Saxe-Eisenach (mother of 154)
310. Christian, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim (father of 155)
311. Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim (mother of 155)
312. same person as 300
313. same person as 301
314. Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (father of 157)
315. Duchess Antoinette Amelie of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (mother of 157)
316. Christian Louis II, Duke of Mechlenburg-Schwerin (father of 158)
317. Duchess Gustave Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (mother of 158)
318. Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (father of 159)
319. Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (mother of 159)
Elizabeth's patrilineal descent (the principle behind membership in Germanic royal houses) can be traced back through the generations—which means that if Elizabeth II were to choose an historically accurate house name it would be Wettin, as all her male-line ancestors have been members.
The line diverges from the British royal line at Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, and from then on follows his paternal ancestors.
Descent before Conrad the Great is taken from fabpedigree.com and may be inaccurate.
House of Wettin
The matrilineal descent of Elizabeth II can only be traced back clearly six generations, to Mary Garritt, mother of Frances Webb.[2]