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Joan of Kent's Descendants

The Royal Family Tree of Joan of Kent

By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com

Because descendants of royal families tended to intermarry, the descendants of such a well-connected woman with royal ancestry as Joan of Kent are many. Joan of Kent's descendants played major roles in the era of the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor and Stuart royal families.

Here are a few notable descendants of Joan of Kent, with her relationship to them:

  • mother to Richard II of England (heir to Edward III)

  • 3rd great-grandmother of Anne Neville

  • 3rd great-grandmother of Anne Neville's husband King Richard III

  • 2nd great-grandmother of Margaret Beaufort

  • 3rd great-grandmother of Margaret Beaufort's son, Henry VII

  • 3rd great-grandmother of Edward IV of England (through his father, Richard, Duke of York)

  • 4th great-grandmother of Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV

  • through Elizabeth of York and her husband Henry VII, each a descendant of Joan of Kent:

    • 4th* great-grandmother of Margaret Tudor

      • 5th great-grandmother of James V of Scotland, Margaret Tudor's son by James IV

      • 6th great-grandmother James V's daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots

      • 5th great-grandmother of Lady Margaret Douglas, daughter of Margaret Tudor by Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus

      • 6th great-grandmother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of Lady Margaret Douglas, and husband of Mary, Queen of Scots


        • 7th great-grandmother of James VI of Scotland, James I of England, both as son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and as son of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

        • through James, Joan of Kent is also ancestor of the rest of the Stuart monarchs

    • 4th great-grandmother of King Henry VIII

      • 5th great-grandmother of Edward VI

      • 5th great-grandmother of Queen Mary I

      • 5th great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth I

    • 4th great-grandmother of Mary Rose Tudor, sister of Henry VIII

      • 6th great-grandmother of Lady Jane Grey

        • 5th great-grandmother of Lady Frances Brandon, daughter of Mary Rose Tudor and mother of Lady Jane Grey

        • 5th great-grandmother of Sir Henry Grey, father of Lady Jane Grey

    • 5th great-grandmother of Catherine Parr, wife of Henry VIII

    * Where there is more than one line of descent, the shortest is noted; Joan of Kent was actually both 4th great-grandmother and 5th great-grandmother of Henry VIII and his siblings, for instance.

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