- If royal genes have any influence, John Kerry looks destined
to dethrone George W. Bush in November's US presidential election.
-
- According to a theory its British proponents say has
proved surprisingly accurate over the past century, the candidate with
the bluest blood in his veins will win the White House.
-
- In 2000 it was Bush. This time, it's Kerry. "Our
research is not yet complete, but my bet is that Kerry has more royal connections
and that he is more noble than President Bush," said Harold Brooks-Baker,
publishing director of Burke's Peerage, a guide to the British aristocracy.
-
- "But both candidates have a remarkable number of
royal connections and both are related to Queen Elizabeth."
-
- Yale-educated war veteran Kerry, 60, can trace his roots
via the first Massachusetts governor, John Winthrop, to every great family
in Boston and a host of royals in Europe.
-
- "Kerry can almost certainly be traced back to King
James I and to the bloodlines straight through the Windsor and Hanover
families," Brooks-Baker said.
-
- James I, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, ruled England
from 1603-1625 and is best remembered for commissioning a new translation
of the Bible. Much of Kerry's royal heritage comes through his mother's
side. Kerry, a Catholic, recently learned that his paternal grandfather
was an ethnic German Jew born in a former mining town near the Polish border.
-
- Although Kerry's family tree might have more royal branches
than Mr Bush's, the President himself is no commoner.
-
- Mr Bush was more royal than Al Gore, his opponent four
years ago, and also boasts a direct descent from Henry III and from Henry
VIII's sister Mary Tudor, who was also the wife of Louis XI of France.
He is also descended from Charles II of England.
-
- Brooks-Baker said there has always been a significant
"royalty factor" in those who aspired to the White House, with
Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt
and Ronald Reagan among those who had strong blue blood links.
-
-
- http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/
story_page/0,5936,8897838%255E912,00.html
|
