Oldest Royal and Noble Families

[norenxaq]

the Japanese royal family can be traced to at least 300 AD with some certainty. Also, Confucius' family is even older (they were ennobled at some point in their history)

Much of Kangra's early history is mythical with regards to its ruling family

 

[Next Star]

I heard Japan's dynasty started in 660 b.c more than many thousands years ago.
They are the oldest reigning royal or noble family when it comes to bloodlines.

 

[king of scotland]

I've read Queen Elizabeth II can trace her ancestry back to the first King of Wessex, Cerdic. I've also heard it can be traced back farther, anybody know if thats true?

 

[norenxaq]

Cerdic is legendary at best. before him, one quickly enters mythology

 

[susan alicia]

yes the father of the shah of Persia/Iran was a military man without formal education who made himself shah

Reza Shah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Correct Lucien, but I think we are after longest/oldest unbroken lines of descent. Persia/Iran, like China, had a series of dynasties rather than a continuous related line.

 

[madeleine victoria]

"Lady" is not a name that one can give a person - Lady is a honorary style that comes for female members of a family of a peerage. She is styled Lady Louise as the is the daughter of an Earl, that's just how it is. And they have also chosen not to give her any additional titles, as they want to raise her as normally as possible.

If I remember it correctly Prince Edward was disappointed that her daughter Lady Louise was not styled as Princess since she is a daughter of a prince and a grandaughter of the Queen. She was only given the title Lady since the Queen needs to limit the number of the royal family. They have a long list of princes/ss compared to other royal families. The article even stated that only the future children of the heir will be styled as HRH Prince/ss. For example Prince Charles' sons and then William's children since he will be the future King of England. Prince Edward was disappointed since his brother's daughters are styled HRH Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Actually I would also be disappointed if I'm a son/daughter of the monarch and my children will be limited to nobility titles only. In the case of Zara and Peter Philips, this I know that the Princess Royal does not want her children to carry titles as these can be a burden.

If I'm royalty I would want a Princess plus a title of nobility like Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Halsinglad and Gastrikland....

 

[susan alicia]

silly question probably but how do we know that he was dissappointed, did he tell the press or was he quoted

 

[Warren]

...did he tell the press or was he quoted

He didn't and he wasn't. Chances are that the decision reflects the parents' wishes.

° ° °

The question of the Wessex titles is discussed at length in the Titles of the Wessex Children thread in the British Forums.

 

[Vasaborg]

English Royal family

The English Royal family died out in 1603.

I always thought that the English Royal family died out in c 1125 when Edgar grandson of King Edmund II of England died. The Royal families that followed were not Anglo-Saxon.

 

[claypoint2]

Re Nobility: The Limburg-Stirum family is among the oldest in Europe, tracing its descent back to the 9th century.

House of Limburg-Stirum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Dierna23]

I always thought, the first "real" royal dynasty in europe were the Merovings in France? Anybody knows something about it?

 

[Warren]

The Merovingians - the first Frankish dynasty,
ruled c420 to 751, when the Carolingians gained power.
See the Wiki entry for detail.

 

[BryanCornett]

Through my connection to King Canute The Great, King Canute's Great-grandfather Is King Gorm The Old. And Gorm the old's Son Is King Harald Bluetooth. And Harald Bluetooth's son is King Sweyn Forkbeard. I didn't Know that Canute Lineage was the Oldest royal family in Europe. That's neat.

 

[Nathalie Cox]

And the Grimaldis? they've been in Monaco for more than 700 years...
And i think Denmark is the oldest monarchy in the world.

 

[Dierna23]

The Merovingians - the first Frankish dynasty,
ruled c420 to 751, when the Carolingians gained power.
See the Wiki entry for detail.

Thank you, Warren.

 

[Vasaborg]

Canute

Through my connection to King Canute The Great, King Canute's Great-grandfather Is King Gorm The Old. And Gorm the old's Son Is King Harald Bluetooth. And Harald Bluetooth's son is King Sweyn Forkbeard. I didn't Know that Canute Lineage was the Oldest royal family in Europe. That's neat.

You must be related to Canute through his sister ? as he has no descendants.

 

[Next Star]

And the Grimaldis? they've been in Monaco for more than 700 years...
And i think Denmark is the oldest monarchy in the world.

Monaco is one of the oldest reigning noble families not royal like some
people think their dynasty was found in 1297.and Denmark is the oldest
European royal family but not the world's that belongs to the Japense
Imperial family that was found in b.c. era while other reigning dynasties
were found in a.d. era.

 

[Archduchess Zelia]

I have read that we daneflag have one of the eldest monarchys in the whole world ...

 

[Sephora]

isnt the moroccan royal family quite old as well?
The Hashemites of Jordan are ofcourse one of the newest monarchs but the family goes way back to Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

The moroccan alouite royal family is the sencond oldest royal family in the world after the japenese one.

 

[Warren]

The Moroccan monarchy can be traced back to the 700s through a series of dynasties. The current dynasty, the Alaouite, were local rulers until 1664 when the first Sultan of Morocco was proclaimed. The Alaouites claim descent from the Prophet Mohammed (as do the Hashemites) so whereas the family line may be ancient, they were not a Ruling Family and did not begin to amass power until the early 1600s.

 

[Hereditary Thane]

Perhaps this will surprise many but the oldest extant, though non-reigning, dynasties are to be found on the very edges of Europe. Those mediatized princely families in the Caucasus, and the former families who provided High Kings and regional kings in Ireland. The later either fled to the continent or were mediatized by the English Tudors (yes they are Welsh and Norman but were sovereigns of England and self appointed lords of Ireland) during the push for English supremacy.

Although Ireland (the southern portion is a republic) the government with the consent of the president and supervised by the Chief Herald of Ireland, in Dublin have always acknowledged the former dynastic families and their septs. The Chiefs of Family apart from their territorial titles are acknowledged as eith Serene Highness or Most Serene Highness. As the old saying goes: all the Irish are sons of kings isn't as far fetched as it seems, their being over thirty chiefly and princely families.

 

[VaiFSekona1975]

I believe that the oldest reigning dynasty is the House of Tupou, the royal family of Tonga.

The Tupou family geneology...prior to them, there were many "cheifly rulers" or equilalent = Surpreme Rulers (abt. 450 a.d.), the Tu'i Tonga Dynasty began with 'Aho'eitu (abt. 950 a.d.-1500 a.d.) and continued with two more dynasties...the Tu'i Takalaua (abt. 1550 a.d.) and present...The Tu'i Kanokupolu Dynasty started with Siaosi "George" Taufa'ahau Tupou I to today's Tongan king (2010)...with King George Tupou V. So "documented", Tonga's Royal connections... is between 450 a.d./950 a.d. to today 23 Jan 2010.

note:There is continued research covering Polynesia's Royal families...
with the Lapita peoples...

 

[chaz]

Other long traceable royal geneologies are the English, Danish, and French Royal Families.

The English can extend back to the time of Boadicea I believe.

In France the Orleans monarchs traced their lineage back to the Roman Emperor Commodius Pontus. Some of that line surrvives in the USA as the Du Pont family of Delaware.

 

[chaz]

Boadicea was Celtic and therefore has no connection with the English. Germanic Angles and Saxons originated on the Jutland peninsula and migrated to Britain much later than the Celts.

 

[Marc23]

What about Bagration family?There are some sources that state that first Bagration Prince is mentioned in 314 AD...

 

[oneofthem]

Boadicea was Celtic and therefore has no connection with the English. Germanic Angles and Saxons originated on the Jutland peninsula and migrated to Britain much later than the Celts.

That doesn't mean there's no connection....all these peoples intermarried. The modern English are a combination of Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman and who knows what else. To deny a connection just based on a tribal ethnicity is false history.

Here's an example for you....they found a skeleton in NW Wales buried in a cave. It was the skeleton of a guy that was buried about 9000 years ago, just after the ice had retreated from that area of the UK. They took a sample of his DNA and sequenced it. Then, just out of curiosity, they sampled the DNA of several hundred people, including school kids, from the area. 80% of the population of the area were found to be this guy's nth great grand kids....in other words, they were his direct descendants. Yet everyone there was also of Celtic and other blood. Of the rest, about 5% may have been indirect relatives of this guy and the others were the usual "blow ins" that you will find in any population.

 

[oneofthem]

The oldest recognised family tree in the world today is the one belonging to the descendants of Confucius....it's over 80 generations in length.

 

[Lakshmi]

Isn't Japanese Imperial family the oldest royalty today? The dynasty is more than 2,000 years.
If we believe Wikipedia: Imperial House of Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[norenxaq]

tonga questions

The Tupou family geneology...prior to them, there were many "cheifly rulers" or equilalent = Surpreme Rulers (abt. 450 a.d.), the Tu'i Tonga Dynasty began with 'Aho'eitu (abt. 950 a.d.-1500 a.d.) and continued with two more dynasties...the Tu'i Takalaua (abt. 1550 a.d.) and present...The Tu'i Kanokupolu Dynasty started with Siaosi "George" Taufa'ahau Tupou I to today's Tongan king (2010)...with King George Tupou V. So "documented", Tonga's Royal connections... is between 450 a.d./950 a.d. to today 23 Jan 2010.

note:There is continued research covering Polynesia's Royal families...
with the Lapita peoples...

is there any actual lineage before 'Aho'eitu? if so, what would it be?

did any Lapita oral tradition survive and is anything known about any of its rulers?
thank-you

 

[norenxaq]

Isn't Japanese Imperial family the oldest royalty today? The dynasty is more than 2,000 years.
If we believe Wikipedia: Imperial House of Japan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

there is some question about the accuracy of this family's lineage prior to Ojin
(3rd or 4th century AD depending on the source)

The oldest recognised family tree in the world today is the one belonging to the descendants of Confucius....it's over 80 generations in length.

and were nobles before 1911