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Shes known as the first commoner to marry a future king in more than three centuries – and her ancestors include miners, farmers and even the occasional wool merchant.
But Catherine Middleton, 41, has a number of distinguished forebears and relatives in her own right – even if some are a little distant.
The family of her father, Michael has mingled with Royalty since the Victorian era, while her mother Carole descends from the baronet Sir William Blakiston, an ancestor of The Queen Mother.
Her family tree includes children’s authors Beatrix Potter and Arthur Ransome, and film director, producer, and screenwriter Guy Ritchie, meaning that Kate has both aristocratic blood and connections to Hollywood royalty.
Pictured: Kate, the Princess of Wales during a visit to AW Hainsworth in Leeds today
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (pictured), who would later become the Queen Mother – is a distant relative of Carole Middleton, Kate’s mother
Catherine’s family was wealthier on her father’s side – the Middletons – than on her mothers. Most notably, the Luptons made a fortune in the Yorkshire textile trade, establishing royal connections of their own. It was a former Lupton-own mill that the Princess of Wales visited today
The origins of the Middletons wealth lay in the family textile business, William Lupton & Co, established in 1773 by Kates great-great-great-great-great grandfather Arthur, who inherited his fathers cloth-making business.
His grandson Frank Kates great-great-great grandfather – transformed the family business and accumulated the family wealth: when he died in 1884, he left a 200-acre estate and 64,650, the equivalent of more than 32 million today.
His wife Fanny was directly descended from Sir Thomas Fairfax, a leading Parliamentarian general in the English Civil War, and had links to many of the great philanthropists and thinkers of the day.
She was the niece of the author, philosopher, and feminist Harriet Martineau, who herself was a devout Unitarian and mixed in an elevated circle that included Florence Nightingale, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Charles Darwin.
She was also the second cousin of Guy Ritchies great-great-grandfather William Martineau, making cousins of the Princess of Wales and the Hollywood star (if somewhat remotely).
Martineaus granddaughter, Doris McLaughlin married the war hero Major Stewart Ritchie, a Seaforth Highlander, who won a Military Cross during World War I.
He was killed in action during World War II, leaving Guys father John Ritchie an orphan at the age of 12. Guy has often paid tribute to his grandfather, from whom he inherited his middle name.
Pictured: Guy Ritchie attending the UK Premiere of the re-imagining of The Little Mermaid
Her family tree includes Arthur Ransome, the childrens author of Swallows and Amazon
Ritchie took Madonna to a remembrance service in honour of the Seaforth Highlanders, who remained on French soil when the British forces were evacuated from Dunkirk, and got married to the popstar in Highland dress.
But it was Franks equally prosperous brother Darnton, Lord Mayor of Leeds, who made the Royal connections. Darnton Lupton had been in the welcoming party when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert opened Leeds Town Hall in 1887.
His granddaughter Florence and her husband Albert Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale, who lived in 17th century Gledhow Hall – famously painted by William Turner – attended the coronation of George V. And their daughters Doris and Evelyn were debutantes who were presented at court.
Kates great-grandmother Olive Middleton, the granddaughter of Frank and Fanny, was close to her Airedale cousins, attending society balls at Gledhow Hall.
Her own family had tentacles across Leeds. Her father Francis Martineau Lupton, who ran the family firm with his brother Arthur, was a JP and alderman on Leeds Council.
Olive Lupton, Kate Middleton’s Great great grandmother on her father’s side. The Lupton family made a fortune in the Yorkshire wool trade
As this family tree shows, the Princess of Wales has has surprising connections on her mother’s side, too
Pictured:The children’s author Beatrix Potter in 1905 at her Farm Hill Top in the Lake District
Pictured: The three youngest children of King George V and Queen Mary – Princess Victoria Mary, Prince John and Prince George, later Duke of Kent, in 1909
His brother Sir Charles Lupton was head of the legal firm Dibb Lupton, as well as Lord Mayor of Leeds and chairman of the Leeds Infirmary, presenting Princess Mary with a wedding gift from the city when she married Viscount Lascelles.
Brother Hugh, who was chairman of Hathorn Davey & Co., a hydraulic engineering company, and his wife Isabella, were Lord and Lady Mayoress.
And brother Arthur, was a pro-vice-chancellor of Leeds University he escorted King George V around the campus in 1915. He was married to Harriot Ashton, a cousin of Beatrix Potters mother Helen.
Tragically she died in childbirth in 1888, before her famous cousin published her first childrens book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, leaving her husband to bring up their fourth children Thomas, then four, Arthur, three, Elinor, two, and baby Elizabeth.
