Are All U.S. Presidents Related? The Royal Bloodline

So much for the American Revolution cutting ties with British royalty. It turns out that 42 out of 43 U.S. presidents share a common ancestor: King John of England, the reluctant signer of the Magna Carta in 1215. The only exception? Martin Van Buren, whose Dutch ancestry breaks the chain.

This bombshell discovery came from an unlikely source - a 12-year-old girl from California.

A Middle Schooler's Presidential Breakthrough

In 2012, seventh-grader BridgeAnne d'Avignon tackled what professional genealogists had struggled with for decades. Inspired by her grandfather's 60-year passion for presidential genealogy, she spent her summer vacation poring through an estimated 500,000 documents to create the first complete family tree linking U.S. presidents.

Her methodology was groundbreaking. Unlike previous genealogists who had only linked 22 presidents through male bloodlines, BridgeAnne traced connections through both male and female ancestors. This approach revealed the stunning truth: nearly every president descends from King John "Lackland" Plantagenet.

The research was so thorough that her chart earned a spot in the Library of Congress's Magna Carta exhibit. Not bad for a summer project.

Why Martin Van Buren Breaks the Pattern

Martin Van Buren, America's eighth president, is the genealogical odd man out - and his Dutch heritage explains why. While other presidents trace their roots back to English colonists (who themselves descended from medieval English nobility), Van Buren's ancestors came from the Netherlands.

This makes him the only U.S. president without a blood connection to King John of England. In a presidency full of firsts (first president born a U.S. citizen, first from New York), this might be his most unusual distinction.

The Bush Family's Presidential Pedigree

While the "all presidents are related" fact often gets attributed to George W. Bush specifically, the Bush family does have an impressive track record. George H.W. Bush was distantly related to 18 other presidents, including:

• George Washington (through the English Spencers - the same family that produced Princess Diana)
• Abraham Lincoln (through immigrant Samuel Lincoln of Massachusetts)
• Both Roosevelts (Theodore and Franklin)
• Barack Obama (through the Blossoms and Hinckleys of Plymouth)

But the Bushes aren't unique. This web of connections spans nearly all presidential families.

What This Really Means

Before you start thinking America has a secret royal conspiracy, consider this: 100 million Americans have family ties to one or more presidents. Anyone with New England colonial ancestry is probably connected to dozens of them.

The reason is simple math. Go back enough generations, and family trees don't just branch out - they loop back on themselves as distant cousins married distant cousins (often without knowing it). Colonial America had a small population, and that founding stock provided the gene pool for much of the nation's early leadership.

King John of England, who ruled from 1199-1216, lived 800+ years ago. At that distance, he has millions of living descendants. The surprising part isn't that presidents share this ancestor - it's that we bothered to trace it.