The Catherine Code

The Catherine Code is a remarkable series of genealogical, genetic and other connections involving Kate Middleton, the commoner who fulfilled a 150-year-old prophecy in 2011 when she was married in Westminster Abbey on St Catherine of Siena's feast day. Interwoven with stories of Kate's working and middle class ancestors is a history of the royal family which has been defined by illegitimacy, inbreeding and bad behaviour since 1066 when William the Bastard introduced to Britain the cult of St Catherine of Alexandria.

Many readers will be surprised to learn that they descend from one or more of William the Bastard's illegitimate grandchildren through the Beaufort bastards of Katherine Swynford who died in 1403.

Kate is connected by marriage to Britain's five previous Queen Catherines: Catherine of Valois, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr and Catherine of Braganza (who was depicted as St Catherine of Alexandria). Kate and her children are also connected to Caterina Sforza, who resembled Leonardo da Vinci's mother Caterina (and may have inspired the Mona Lisa), and to Russia's Catherine the Great who had the same mitochondrial DNA as Kate's grandfather-in-law Prince Philip.

With 272 pages crammed with pictures and ancestry charts, The Catherine Code will appeal to anyone interested in genealogy and history.

BISAC categories:

HIS015030 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Tudor & Elizabethan Era (1485-1603)

HIS015040 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Stuart Era (1603-1714)

HIS015050 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Georgian Era (1714-1837)

HIS015060 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Victorian Era (1837-1901)

HIS015070 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century

HIS015080 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 21st Century