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PRINCE WILLIAM'S ANCESTORS WERE PART-ARMENIAN, PART-INDIAN, DNA TESTS SHOW
14:42 14.06.2013
Prince William
Prince William will be Britain's first king with Indian ancestors,
new genetic tests have revealed.
DNA analysis has helped researchers prove the Duke of Cambridge's
great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Eliza Kerwark was
half-Indian.
Eliza - who is an ancestor of Wills and Harry's mother Princess Diana -
was always believed to have come from Armenia.
However, new tests on saliva samples given by other descendants,
including Diana's aunt, show Eliza was half-Indian, The Sun reports.
Researchers have previously traced Diana's family line back six
generations to Eliza Kework, who was born in western India in around
1790 and is believed to have married Scottish merchant Theodore Forbes
in 1812.
Eliza's father was an Armenian trader, but there is no record of her
mother. Now the genetic analysis shows she must have been Indian.
EdinburghUniversity genetics expert Jim Wilson, who carried out the
tests on Wills's relatives, said among Eliza's DNA was a very rare
type of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is only inherited from mothers.
He said that particular genetic code has been found in only 14 other
people before - 13 Indian and one Nepalese.
Inter-racial affairs were common at the time - but researchers say
snobbery could explain why Theodore abandoned Eliza and sent their
young daughter Katherine back to Britain.
Katherine, known as Kitty, went on to marry in Scotland and her
great-great-granddaughter was Frances Burke Roche, who married the
8th Earl Spencer and had five children including Diana Spencer.
Diana's aunt Mary Roach, one of those who provided DNA, said:
"I always assumed that I was part-Armenian so I am delighted that I
also have an Indian background."
Dr Wilson said Princes William and Harry would both have inherited
Eliza's distinctive mtDNA code but would not pass it to their children.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/06/14/prince-williams-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother-was-part-armenian-part-indian-dna-test-proves/
14:42 14.06.2013
Prince William
Prince William will be Britain's first king with Indian ancestors,
new genetic tests have revealed.
DNA analysis has helped researchers prove the Duke of Cambridge's
great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Eliza Kerwark was
half-Indian.
Eliza - who is an ancestor of Wills and Harry's mother Princess Diana -
was always believed to have come from Armenia.
However, new tests on saliva samples given by other descendants,
including Diana's aunt, show Eliza was half-Indian, The Sun reports.
Researchers have previously traced Diana's family line back six
generations to Eliza Kework, who was born in western India in around
1790 and is believed to have married Scottish merchant Theodore Forbes
in 1812.
Eliza's father was an Armenian trader, but there is no record of her
mother. Now the genetic analysis shows she must have been Indian.
EdinburghUniversity genetics expert Jim Wilson, who carried out the
tests on Wills's relatives, said among Eliza's DNA was a very rare
type of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is only inherited from mothers.
He said that particular genetic code has been found in only 14 other
people before - 13 Indian and one Nepalese.
Inter-racial affairs were common at the time - but researchers say
snobbery could explain why Theodore abandoned Eliza and sent their
young daughter Katherine back to Britain.
Katherine, known as Kitty, went on to marry in Scotland and her
great-great-granddaughter was Frances Burke Roche, who married the
8th Earl Spencer and had five children including Diana Spencer.
Diana's aunt Mary Roach, one of those who provided DNA, said:
"I always assumed that I was part-Armenian so I am delighted that I
also have an Indian background."
Dr Wilson said Princes William and Harry would both have inherited
Eliza's distinctive mtDNA code but would not pass it to their children.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2013/06/14/prince-williams-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother-was-part-armenian-part-indian-dna-test-proves/