Irish Royalty - Part 1

Generally speaking, when I think of Ireland, I don't think of royalty and proving my family line to be connected to any as such.  Being of Irish and German decent plus being an American makes the thought of royalty and royals literally a foreign concept.  Every so often, those considered royalty in other countries make the news but no country more than England.  I guess I should refer to them as the royalty of Great Britain to be accurate.  I generally watch the news segments about the royals and move on with my day.

While I don't mean to completely poke fun at the rather perplexing concept of royalty, the "royalty" that I consider as such here in America would include the likes of the Kennedy's and Disney.  Oh wait, they are all Irish descendants.  I didn't actually mean to pick them because of their national origins.  It is no secret that the Kennedy's are nicknamed as American royalty.   I throw in Disney because of all the princesses that have resulted from his animated creations and legacy.  If you ask my daughters who royalty are, they will indicate the full list of Disney Princesses:  Cinderella, Mulan, Jasmine, Tiana, Aurora, Aerial, Snow White, Belle, etc.  I missed a few but they would know full list and consider them "royalty".

So why bring up royalty now when I don't really put a lot of stock in today's concept of "her majesty".  Well, it is a bit romanticized by today's media and entertainment outlets making the topic of great interest to many.  My husband also turned to me after tracing his Scottish roots back to the 1500s or thereabouts and indicated that his Ross line owned a castle.  I told him that he'd need to sit down and really "prove it".  That is something that he has not had time to do.  Just as many of us Irish descendants (my husband included in that bunch too), we don't necessarily have a way to prove our connection to past royalty except by way of the surnames on our family tree.

In the past, I have researched the heraldry information about my various family surnames and come up with some rather lack luster information.  The "write-ups" about the various surnames are interesting at the surface, especially if that's all you've got, but it is a very generic way of looking at your family history.   That is a history that you probably share with thousands of people.

So in my next posts, I will attempt to write about a few important people in Irish history who were considered royalty at the time.  I am initially picking based off my own Irish surnames.  My plan is to avoid a lot of he "heraldry" write-ups out there in favor of a more individual connections to my research and individuals that really put a mark on Irish history as "Kings".  We'll see what I come up with!