Prince William, second in line to Britain’s throne, has Indian ancestry, new genetic research has revealed. His younger brother Harry too has a similar Indian genetic connection.
William’s Indian ancestry was unveiled by BritainsDNA, a genetic ancestry testing company in the UK. The princes’ Indian connection comes through their mother, Princess Diana. This is their only non-European DNA.
Researchers sourced William’s Indian ancestry to Eliza Kewark, his great-great-great-great-great grandmother, who was assumed to be Armenian, but now revealed as an Indian by genetic research.
Eliza, born circa 1790, lived conjugally with Theodore Forbes, a Scottish merchant working for the East Indian Company. Forbes (1788-1820) was from Aberdeenshire and Eliza joined his household in Surat as a housekeeper. They had three children together.
Researchers led by Dr Jim Wilson, a genetics expert at Edinburgh University and chief scientist, BritainsDNA, traced the matrilineal line of 30-year-old William, who is about to become father for the first time in a few weeks. The team tested saliva samples of William’s relatives.
William’s matrilineal line continued with the birth of the couple’s first child, a girl named Katharine Scott Forbes, after Theodore’s mother. The baby’s birth was registered at Surat, where the family lived.
Their son Alexander Scott Forbes was born in 1814 and there appears to have been a third child, most probably a girl, of whom details are unknown.
The princes won’t be able to pass on their extremely rare Indian DNA to their children as it can be passed only through mothers.