Kate Middleton Is Related To Chris De Burgh And Irish Royalty, Claim Tourism Officials
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is related to “Lady in Red” singer Chris de Burgh and Irish aristocracy, so says the Irish Tourism Board.
The alleged connections have been backed up by genealogists working for the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? television program, which traces celebrities — and, occasionally — ordinary people’s family trees.
According to Mail Online, experts investigated Kate’s ancestry all the way back to King Edward III. Historically, in 1352 his son Lionel of Antwerp married the Countess of Ulster Elizabeth de Burgh, who Chris De Burgh is descended from.
Kate’s connection to Irish nobility and De Burgh — a singer who is looked on with affection by the Irish — may be way back in the 14th century, but apparently its good enough to get Irish tourism officials very excited.
Niall Gibbons, the chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said that the duchess’s links to Ireland had been authenticated, although details have yet to be made public by the Irish board.
De Burgh, who has sold 45 million records in a career that spans 40 years, and who was born in Argentina to a British father and and an Irish mother, jokingly told The Telegraph:
“I was unaware that there is a distant connection between the de Burgh family and the Middletons. At least that will give us something to talk about should we ever have a cup of tea together.”
The singer added: “There are probably many others also connected to both families.”
De Burgh’s observation is a astute one. Reportedly, the duchess can claim film director Guy Ritchie, actor Sir John Gielgud and authors Beatrix Potter and Arthur Ransome, among her relatives.
Although much was made of Kate’s “commoner” ancestry before her April 2011 wedding to Prince William — on her mother’s side she’s related to a coal miner, a road sweeper, and a prisoner — on her father’s side the family tree is stuffed with Prime Ministers, nobility, and people of note.
After recently returning from a holiday with Prince William in Mustique, a five months pregnant Kate attended the Swiss alps wedding of Mark Tomlinson and dressage Olympic gold medalist Laura Bechtolsheimer this weekend along with her husband and Prince Harry.
What do you think of Kate’s links to Irish nobility and Chris De Burgh, does it kill the fairytale rags to riches story, or make absolutely no difference?
