Most of us have wondered at some point whether we have rich, royal or famous relatives in our distant past. Here is a light-hearted article exploring some ways to find out if that is the case!
Above is the family tree of Sigmund Christoph von Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg.
It's fun to imagine that we may have a long-lost millionaire aunt who is desperately searching for some ancestors to leave her fortune to. Or it can be nice to think that we have a degree of pedigree in our heritage, perhaps even blue blood running through our veins.
But if you're more serious about finding out whether you have any famous or royal relatives, there are now numerous ways you can go about finding out.
How to find royalty in your family tree
Genealogy Apps
One way to begin your search is to turn away from dusty history books and archives and turn instead to modern technology.
A quick search in your favourite app store will likely produce a whole range of apps and programmes that will help make your family tree research a whole lot easier.
After all, so many other people around the world have already done some digging on the history of ordinary people everywhere - why not tap into their results and research if it's available?
This is what many of the best apps allow you to do - to collaborate with other researchers and historians, or to access the bank of information that has already been uncovered by like-minded genealogy sleuths.
You may even connect with some distant relatives who are looking into the same family tree, they might be just as delighted to find you.
Specialist Family Tree Services
If you find that the apps aren't giving you the results you're after - i.e. those rich or royal skeletons in the family closet - you may prefer to sign up for one of the online services that allow for a deeper dive in your lineage and ancestry.
These are becoming big businesses and so it makes sense to tap into these global networks of historical information and valuable archive libraries. They also make for fascinating rabbit holes where you can get lost in the worlds of your great-uncle's war adventures or your great-great-grandmother's time as a military nurse.
Be warned, though - once you start to dive into the history of your nearest and dearest it can become addictive! Some find that their casual interest in locating a long-lost royal relative soon turns into an obsession that consumes a great deal of their spare time. It seems there's something endlessly fascinating about where we came from, and many of us want to know as much as we can about the lives and loves of the people who came before us.
Hiring Genealogy Experts
If you find that you want to skip the whole research part and just get the results, you might be better off hiring an expert to do the legwork for you.
There are many excellent family tree specialists and they not only have a gift for knowing where to find the right information, they also usually have a wealth of experience in this field that can help with your investigation.
Search online for a genealogy expert near you to fast-track your family tree findings
• Finding Royal Titles to buy
If you discover that your research and digging don't yield the kind of results you were looking for, you could always follow in the footsteps of royals and nobles throughout the ages and take matters into your own hands.
While you may not have royalty in your past, there's a little-known way that you could enjoy this high-calibre status in your present, as well as gifting a more regal lineage to future generations.
This is the route of purchasing noble titles for sale in Europe, and not only is it a completely genuine and totally legal practice, but it's also something that has a rich history in many of the royal and aristocratic houses of Europe stretching back centuries to some of the oldest kings and queens of history.
Whichever route you choose, there are plenty of ways you can go about finding any links in your family tree to the royals of the ages. And if all your efforts still don't result in a regal connection, you always have the option of becoming the first member of a new royal line by purchasing a royal title of your own.
