I do hope we all recognise these 'pretty stories' for what they are - unproved (- unprovable ?) myths and legends - a bit like the Greek Myths really, with their accounts of various descents from the gods......!! OR - perhaps there is an online database somewhere...?? Stephen //// ________________________________ From: Shirley Arabin <arabin@wave.co.nz> To: 'Jason Payne' <jasonpayneuk@btinternet.com>; 'Patricia Byers' <petpad.byers@gmail.com> Cc: NEW-ZEALAND@rootsweb.com Sent: Wednesday, 5 March 2014 8:30 AM Subject: Re: [nz] Maori links with the British royal family There was a story that the family of Sir Robert Rex premier of Nuie were descended from an illegitimate child of a member of the royal family. A former all black or 7s player is part of that family and once said they had royal connections. May well be true as many people in England especially in the aristocracy are descendants of Charles II's mistresses. When Prince William eventually becomes King he will be the first King since Charles II with Stuart blood from 2 of Princess Diana's ancestors. Shirley > On 4 Mar 2014, at 09:57, Patricia Byers <petpad.byers@gmail.com> wrote: > > All this news about whether or not the current royals will be meeting with the NZ Maori royals reminded me of a brief conversation I had with a Maori woman in the Wanganui Library. It occurred many years ago and took place during one of the present Queen's visits to New Zealand. > This woman told me in all seriousness that there was a blood link between the British royal family and a Maori family in NZ. The link had been recognised, and whenever the Queen visited NZ she visited people belonging to this family. The link dated back to some time before Queen Victoria came to the throne. > Was this woman pulling my leg, or is there some truth to her story? > Paddy > South Hobart > Tasmania

It reminds me of when I was first trawling Ancestry.com family trees and was startled to discover my forebears linked on a tree to Royalty and Peerage of England and Europe. There WAS a link, but it was very very slight through umpteen great nephews or something or other of a great grand niece of my 4x great grandparents. These trees leave me wondering why some people find it imperative to find 'blood' links like this - and how can they prove them by the time honoured genealogy rule of three vital records? Another recent contact from my wider family insisted on sending me a huge convoluted tree from his side (not mine) that linked back to medieval kings of Europe (groan). I also did some research for someone in the UK who was attempting to disprove a royal rumour in their family. Their family member came to NZ and bigamously married a woman who had given herself great titles, but was actually a commoner from Wales. I found the husband's divorce papers from his first wife in NZ Archives, which alleged desertion and great wrong-doing of first wife in England. The English folk requesting the info told me the wife filing for divorce had actually left her husband, had another child and also married bigamously before the divorce here! New Zealand was considered far enough away from 'home' that many people immigrating in the 19C and 20C fudged their past and recreated new identities for themselves. The stories of 'remittance men' who lived in NZ also showed that it was also considered a safe option for upper-class and aristocratic English families to pay to send their disgraced relatives out of sight and out of mind of society. cheers Cynthia >>I do hope we all recognise these 'pretty stories' for what they are - >>unproved (- unprovable ?) myths and legends - a bit like the Greek Myths >>really, with their accounts of various descents from the >>gods......!! >>>OR - perhaps there is an online database somewhere...?? Stephen ////