[abishai]

Not sure. If people do their homework, a great deal of them can trace a family line or two back to the founding of America or even to royalty. Just go around 7 generations back and your related to 32 different families, and that number doubles with each generation.

IIRC around 20% of Americans are direct descendants of royalty.

[W. W. SMITH]

One of my great aunts has, she insists, traced the family back a little over one thousand years and is certain we are related to every royal family in Europe. The wife is a direct descendant of William of Orange making the two of us 20th cousins or there about.

[kalee]

Yes, the French and Italian royal families for us.

We have a friend who is related to a British aristocratic family. When visiting the UK he and his wife toured the ancestral estate. They mentioned to the guide that they were related to the family. After the tour, they were invited to tea during which the aristocrat made a point of telling them that their relationship was on the”wrong side of the blanket”.