Richard III.pdf (5.24 MB)
On Richard III, The Livingstons of Callendar, and the Conflict Between Genealogy and Genetics
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journal contribution
posted on 2017-09-22, 17:28 authored by John SmithJohn SmithA skeleton excavated at the presumed site of the Grey Friars friary in Leicester in 2012 is almost certainly that of the English king, Richard III (1452 -1485), and mtDNA (which is passed from mother to child) extracted from the skeleton matches mtDNA taken from descendants of Richard's sister Anne of York. However Y-DNA (which is passed from father to son) extracted from the skeleton apparently doesn't match Y-DNA taken from descendants of Henry Somerset the 5th Duke Of Beaufort, who according to history descended from Richard's 2nd great grand father Edward III (1312 - 1377). The implication according to geneticists, and the media, is that there is a 'false paternity event' somewhere between Edward and the Somersets. Also, the false paternity events don't end there, for only 4 of these 5 Somerset descendants match each other. And it may be worse even than this: the patrilineal line of a Frenchman named Patrice de Warren apparently traces back to Richard III through the illegitimate son of Edward III's 4th great grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (1113 - 1151). But de Warren's Y-DNA doesn't match that of either Richard III or any of the Somersets. In this note, a formula for calculating the time of the most recent common ancestor is introduced, and some of its consequences outlined. This formula arises from a mathematical framework within which it is possible that the traditional genealogy is correct, and that Geoffrey Plantaganet was the father of a male line incorporating Richard III, all 5 Somersets, and Patrice de Warren.