August 18, 2004

LONDON, August 18, 2004 (AP) - Sen. John Kerry has blue blood from all the royal houses of Europe, with even more titled relations than President Bush, Burke's Peerage said.

Burke's Peerage, which researches genealogy, said the Democratic presidential candidate traces descent through his mother, Rosemary Forbes, to the royal houses of Albania, England, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Byzantium, Persia (Iran) and France.

Rosemary Forbes was descended from William Forbes, the Laird of Newe, an extended family that included many baronets, Burke's Peerage said.

"It is via this family that the Democratic candidate is descended from Henry II, the king of England and father of Richard the Lionheart, who was leader of the third Crusade in 1189," the peerage said.

By contrast, Bush is related to Queen Elizabeth II, 20 British dukes and many European princes, it said Monday.

The U.S.-based MyFamily.com, which published British census records from 1841 to 1901 on the Internet, had found that Bush, Princess Diana and Winston Churchill are distantly related and can trace their ancestry to the 15th century English squire Henry Spencer of Badby, Northamptonshire, who lived between 1420-1478.

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