Princess Diana’s family tree spans royal scandals, Hollywood royalty – and a surprising number of American presidents. Here's how

Princess Diana’s family history reveals surprising connections not only to British nobility but also to American presidents and Hollywood legends.

Long before she married into the Royal Family, Diana Spencer already had ties that spanned continents, centuries, and even royal scandals.

Princess Diana family history

Princess Diana inherited the title Lady in 1975 when her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer. Her brother, Charles Spencer, is the godson of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and their father, Earl Spencer, was the personal aide to both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.

Diana’s maternal grandmother, Lady Fermoy, served as lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother. These connections positioned Diana firmly within the upper echelons of British society long before her marriage into the Royal Family.

Princess Diana’s royal bloodline (and royal scandals)

Time magazine reported in 1981 that Diana ‘has more English royal blood in her veins than does Prince Charles, her 16^th cousin once removed. All of it flowing from illegitimate unions.’ This is because four of her ancestors were mistresses to English Kings, one of which was Arabella, daughter of the first Sir Winston Churchill. She was the mistress of King James II (King James VII of Scotland) and a lady-in-waiting of his wife, Anna Hyde. She gave birth to four of James’s children, and had a further three more children when she went on to marry Charles Godfrey.

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Diana was also said to be directly connected to another famous female royal, Mary, Queen of Scots, which was also the connection that linked her to Prince Charles, who was her 16^th cousin once removed. Familial connections within marriages aren’t actually that uncommon in the Royal Family – in fact, Prince William is also related to the Princess of Wales, Catherine Middleton. They are 12^th cousins once removed.

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So is Princess Diana related to British PM Winston Churchill?

That means Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, is related to 20^th-century British Prime Minister Winston Churchill through distant aristocratic family lines, dating back to the marriage between Charles Spencer and Anne Churchill in the 18^th century.  

Princess Diana’s American connections

Due to genealogical connections with an American branch of the Spencer family, Diana was also related to many American presidents. George Washington was an eighth cousin seven times removed, and Diana was also distantly related to Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Calvin Coolidge, Millard Fillmore, Rutherford B Hayes, Grover Cleveland and Franklin D Roosevelt.  

She was also connected to the American Vanderbilt family through marriage. Consuelo Vanderbilt, an heiress in the Gilded Age (and the primary inspiration for the TV show The Gilded Age), married Charles Spencer-Churchill, the 9th Duke of Marlborough.

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Celebrity connections

She is also said to have been related to Humphrey Bogart, who was her seventh cousin, with links to the Little Women author Louisa May Alcott, and the actor Audrey Hepburn, whose mother was from Dutch aristocracy and her father another descent of Mary, Queen of Scots, through her third husband James Hepburn.

Top image: Diana, Princess of Wales with her sons Prince Harry and Prince William, and Princess Anne and Zara Phillips outside St George's Chapel, Windsor (credit: Getty)