It has been said that many genealogists decide to work on their family trees because they want to find out if they are related to someone from a royal family. The UK version of the FindMyPast website now has records of the people who were employed by the British royal family. It isn’t the same as discovering that you are related to a King or Queen, but could still provide you with some interesting stories from your family history.
There are a lot of fascinating things that can be found if you take the time to look closely at the family trees of people who belong to a royal family. You can learn who will be the next person in the order of succession to take the throne and become King or Queen. You can find out which royal couples are actually cousins.
You can even discover some really unexpected things. For example, did you know that Prince Charles is related to “Dracula”? It is easy to see why so many genealogists become fascinated about figuring out the family trees of royal persons.
It is also possible to find out if your ancestors worked for the British royal family. This news might not be as exciting as learning that you are a distant relation to the Queen of England, but, could still provide you with some interesting family stories. The UK version of the FindMyPast website, (with the help of the Royal Archives), now has digitized 250 years of records that list the staff who served the British monarchy. Previously, these records were only viewable at Windsor Castle, and you had to get an appointment in order to be allowed to view the records.
FindMyPast has a searchable index of over 50,000 records of Royal Household employees from the years 1526 – 1924. They are split into two collections: the Royal Household establishment lists and the Royal Household index sheets. These records note the name, occupation, age, length of service, and salary of the people who worked for the royal family.
The records are from three different household departments. The Royal Household consisted of the Lord Chamberlain’s Department, (which dealt with the ceremonial and social life of the Court), the Lord Steward’s Department, (which dealt with domestic and culinary matters), and the Lord Master of the Horse’s Department, (which was responsible for the royal stables and for arranging transport for the Sovereign and the Royal Household).
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