If I were a current British politician and the Queen wished to drop a word in my ear re: a situation, I'd be inclined to at least listen to a woman who has been a close observer of the political world for 60 years.

There's definitely a lot of German there. I forget the names of the family before they called themselves Windsor.

The family name was Hanover; however, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and their children (including the next king, Edward VII) were of that House. George V took the name Windsor when Britain wound up fighting Germany in WWI.

X-post, of course.

My favorite part of doing geneology was finding out I am desecnded from Henry II (played by Peter O'Toole) and Eleanor of Aquitaine. It is through John, which is slightly dissappointing, but I was very sure I was from hearty peasant stock!

My other favorite part is all these people in the late 1800's/early 1900's who were living with their boyfriends and such.

I am related to...horse thieves and whackaloon preacher-cussing-out French Huguenots (ah, Jacob Salle, you are my favorite ancestor), among other sturdy peasanty types.

I am fine with this, but I think my dad (who is the geneology freak in the family) is secretly a little sad.

Can I just say, Queen Consort is a great title.

That would set my teeth on edge too. I've never come across it, though; I suspect it was club-specific (or at least a cultural thing).

Makes sense.

Well, except for clapping of course. I applaud speakers anywhere else, I'm not going to be less courteous tosomeone who's trying to learn.

Oh, heck yes. What they do though is you clap from the moment someone gets up until they get up to the front, and then from the moment they're done until they get back to their seat. They actually call it "clapping them up" and "clapping them down". It's...awkward, to say the least.

I am related to...horse thieves and whackaloon preacher-cussing-out French Huguenots (ah, Jacob Salle, you are my favorite ancestor), among other sturdy peasanty types.

My most interesting relative is probably the guy who was the first person in New Jersey convicted under Prohibition. He was also tangentially involved in the Lindburgh Baby case. (As far as I can tell, in that one, he blatantly lied under oath, probably because he was being bribed and/or threatened by gangsters.)

I am descended from Irish farmers, and the records get too vague to trace after a couple of generations, because absolutely EVERYONE in West Cork has my family's name. So much so that people are referred to by their first names. "Oh, you're Denny John Michael's niece."

I'm pretty sure my dad was longing for kilts. The last name is derived from MacGregor, that is certain, but he can't find the definitive JUMP.

Poor Dad.

I lose the "John Taylor" trail pretty quick, but I got lucky with the Brooks family. I was also lucky because someone (as far as I can tell, on behalf of my mother's cousin's children) has done a lot of the work. And that the Rochester Library has every city directory from 1880 - 1930 on line. My grandpa's family owned a house in what is now a somewhat bad part of the city from 1880 - 1950 at least, but it looks like it has since been demolished as it is now a vacant lot.