Slow on the uptake

... the usual situation with newspapers and the "discoveries" they
report to res publica:

There is no foundation, firm or in-, to the Zaida story, and I wonder
about the descent from Macchiavelli - but hey, it sells newsprint.

Frank R.A.J. Maloney...

I also question whether "millions of people have provable descents from
medieval monarchs." I don't dispute the millions just the provability. Most
people I know barely know who their grandparents were and the chances of an
unbroken documentary trail going back more than a century (or two) is
extremely unlikely.

On the other hand, maybe somethng akin the Genographic Project can identify
distinctive markers for one or more royal lines and then all the
documenation we would need would be in our own cells.

Grant Menzies...

On the other hand, look at this big hullaballoo over the gentleman who
sent his DNA to a genetics tracing outfit in the UK and was told he was
one of the kajillion descendants of Genghis Khan, only to find out
there was a mistake or some glitch in the readings, AFTER half the
world had been informed of this marvelous discovery. I think those of
us commoners who can document even one line back to nobility (and not
all of these climb up the genealogical rungs to royalty) are rather few
- and yes, I have met people who actually do not even know their
grandparents' names.

Frank R.A.J. Maloney...

I hadn't heard the follow-up on the Genghis Khan story, which is hardly
surprising.

In my own family, I not only never even heard my paternal grandfather's name
so much as mentioned but I can't remember his existence ever having hinted
at. He was so much persona non grata that he became an Orwellian unperson.
Plus my father's own records were lost in the San Francisco earthquake and
fire.

Grant Menzies...

I've been lucky, because my German grandmother, through whom I
eventually found many royal descents, never spoke of her family or
background and I had to piece it all together from a dusty family
bible, which led me to her parents' home town in Hessen, from there
back through church-book entries, and then discovered cousins in Hessen
who had already traced all the lines and shared their volumes of
materials with me. Part of this whole thing is pushing the envelope,
but the better part of it is luck!

WmAddams...

The descent from Macchiavelli is accurate.