- Meghan Markle will join the British royal family when she marries Prince Harry
- But the bride-to-be, 36, might already have English relatives, experts claim
- Meghan and Sir Winston Churchill are both descendants of a settler from Essex
Meghan Markle will soon be joining Britain’s most well-known family, but it seems the royal bride-to-be might already have some English relatives.
Genealogists have traced the 36-year-old’s family tree and discovered that she might be a distant relative of Sir Winston Churchill thanks to a shared Essex-born ancestor who settled in the US in the 1600s.
The former Suits star also has distant links to William Shakespeare, research reveals.
Family history: Genealogists claim Meghan Markle already has some English relatives
Esteemed family: Experts traced her family history back to Shakespeare, left, and Churchill
The research was carried out by family heritage website MyHeritage.com, which allows users to delve into their personal histories.
Experts concluded that Markle is William Shakespeare’s fifth cousin 13 times removed on her mother Doria’s side.
Her connection to Winston Churchill is even closer as they are sixth cousin five times removed. The unlikely pair are both descendants of Sarah and Zachariah Howe.
Zachariah was born in Essex in 1640 and moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, in search of a new life.
Branching out: Meghan and Churchill’s ancestor left Essex for a new life in Massachusetts
There he met his wife, Sarah, née Gilbert, who was the daughter of Matthew Gilbert, a man born in Somerset who later became the deputy governor of New Haven Colony.
Meghan is a distant descendant of their son, John, while Sir Winston can trace his lineage back to their daughter, Sarah Curtis.
Aaron Godfrey, a spokesperson for MyHeritage.com, said: ‘MyHeritage.com enables anyone to discover their family history easily, so when we heard the wonderful news about Harry and Meghan’s engagement, we wanted to help Meghan discover some English roots of her own.
‘I’m sure she will be delighted to know that she comes from such prestigious British stock.’
Distant connection: Meghan and Shakespeare also had a shared relative centuries ago