Who’s in Elizabeth II’s family tree? Various European kings and queens may come to mind, but the Prophet Muhammad may not. Unless you open up a British tabloid these days, that is—publications like The Daily Mail and The Daily Express have recently run breathless pieces claiming Elizabeth was one of Muhammad’s descendants, recycling a recent news story that appeared in Al Ousboue, a Moroccan newspaper.
So was the queen really related to the prophet? It depends on whether you see a distant ancestor as related or not.
As The Economist notes, it’s not clear why the claims are resurfacing now. But they’ve been around since at least 1986, when the possible link was claimed by genealogist Harold B. Brooks-Baker, publisher of Burke’s Peerage, Britain’s guide to the nobility.
“It is little known by the British people that the blood of Mohammed flows in the veins of the queen,” Brooks-Baker wrote to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the time. » | Erin Blakemoore | Monday, April 29, 2019
