24 March 2015

PRINCESS DIANA'S MATERNAL LINE GENETICS - LINK TO INDIA SIX GENERATIONS BACK

ABC NEWS PRINCESS DIANA'S ANCESTRAL SECRET

Eliza Kewark (Indian) born about 1790
Katherine (sent to England)
Jane
Ruth
Ruth (another Ruth)
Frances
Diana (Princess of Wales)

EXCERPTS:

Eliza Kewark is Prince William's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. She has long been described as Armenian, but Kewark was at least half-Indian, the genetic ancestry testing company BritainsDNA announced today. ... BritainsDNA says it is confident of Kewark's lineage because it traced Williams' mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which is passed down from mother to child. BritainsDNA took saliva samples from two unnamed members of the royal family and traced it back seven generations to Kewark, who was born around 1790. ...

Kewark's mtDNA is so rare, BritainsDNA said, that it has only been found in 14 other people, all but one of whom was Indian (the other one was Nepali). ...According to the biography "The Real Diana," by Lady Colin Campbell, Kewark's background was known but kept quiet by a family that was full of Europeans descended from royalty.

"Eliza Kewark was a dark-skinned native of Bombay who had lived, without benefit of matrimony, with her great-great-grandfather Theodore Forbes while he worked for the East India Company," "The Real Diana" reads.