This blog suggests that the failure of Richard’s Y-chromosome to match that of the Dukes of Beaufort doesn’t make him a male line descendant of Edward III through the “illegitimacy” of Richard, Earl of Cambridge.

The issue it fails to address is this:
The inconsistent chromosome has several other, more likely explanations – that Richard III’s Y-chromosome has degraded, or that false paternity in the Beaufort-Somerset line is far more probable because the latter is much longer, as we explained here.

Furthermore, as pp. xii-xvi of Ashdown-Hill’s Cecily Neville explain, citing heraldic evidence, the “forked beard” portrait below, said to be of Richard Duke of York (with Cecily), as taken from Penrith church, is far more likely to be of his father-in-law Ralph Earl of Westmorland (with Joan Beaufort). That the portrait  doesn’t resemble Edward III is unsurprising because Westmorland’s most recent known royal ancestor was Ethelred II.

We have no DNA taken from Edward III to compare with Richard’s or the Beaufort family’s. Sorry to repeat ourselves, but if people repeat errors, we must do so.

 


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  1. […] 1406 to 1484) was the son of Sir John Neville and Elizabeth Holland. Sir John was the eldest son of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland by his first wife, Margaret Stafford, while Elizabeth was one of the late 14th Century’s […]

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  2. […] early fifteenth century had seen them propelled to new heights. After Henry IV came to the throne, Ralph Neville was created Earl of Westmoreland and married, as his second wife, Joan Beaufort. As Henry IV’s […]

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  3. […] Beaufort, Henry VII and their descendants. Other ancestors included the Scropes of Bolton and Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland – with his first wife, Margaret […]

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