The Esoteric Redux: "Kissin Cousin's!" The Recent "Royal" Romance Of Princess Eugenie Of York & Jack Brooksbank

As a lover of all things “esoteric”, genealogy by far tops the list in the subjects that fascinate me beyond most others. If I can find obscure individuals, than the happier and more fascinated I become.

On the royalty front, it is something of equal measure when it comes to determining ancestral relationships and genealogical connections. If you take Prince William and Kate Middleton for instance, you have to go back quite far in their individual family trees before you find a connection.

Recently, Princess Eugenie of York, youngest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson changed beaus, opting to disengage with Otto Brockway, nephew of billionaire Sir Richard Branson, and started to date Jack Brooksbank.

It has been determined that Princess Eugenie, based on the low key aspect of her love life, prefers to “fly below the radar” when it comes to publicly “outing” her love interests. There was quite a bit of surprise and sense of wonder, when Princess Eugenie was seen clubbing with a very handsome dark haired escort almost immediately after going her separate way from Brockway. The pair were first spotted in public leaving the Cuckoo Club, a nightclub in Central London, hand in hand in May. Who was he? No one had a clue! Except of course those closest to the princess!

An interesting esoteric fact about this new couple is that although Princess Eugenie’s new squeeze may be a supposed man of the people since he is a lowly barman, his ancestry is just as regal as his girlfriend’s. In fact, the couple are actually distant cousins. Jack Brooksbank, who is twenty-four and Princess Eugenie who is twenty share many ancestors, however, two of their closest common ancestors are Thomas William Coke, the 2nd Earl of Leicester and Edward Lascelles, 1^st Earl of Harewood.

Jack, although working behind a bar, comes from a privileged background. A former public schoolboy, he attended Stowe public school in Buckinghamshire, where fees are £27,000 a year, and still lives with his parents George, 61, a chartered accountant and company director, and Nicola, 56, in an £800,000 flat in a converted Victorian school in Wandsford, South London. They also own a holiday home near Bordeaux in

France

Jack earns his keep serving financial workers on their lunch breaks. At the Devonshire Terrace in the City of London, he works behind the bar, brings food to customers and clears tables. He also works part-time at the Admiral Codrington pub in Chelsea, a popular hang-out with young, affluent clientele but also with celebrities such as Kylie Minogue.

"Barman" Jack Brooksbank At Work

Jack, unlike his more tight lipped royal girlfriend, told The Mail on Sunday that their relationship was ‘going well’. When asked if he began seeing the young Princess at the start of the summer, he replied: ‘A little bit longer than that. It’s going well. We met through friends.’ He also confirmed that he had joined his girlfriend and her family on the recent trip, saying: ‘That’s correct. It was a very good holiday.’

As sixth in line to the throne, one might expect to hear that Princess Eugenie might be dating a young aristocrat, such as an heir to a dukedom or earldom or a member of European royalty. However, Jack seems to fit the bill for the young princess.

According to friends, Eugenie and Jack met in the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Verbier earlier this year, where she was enjoying her father Prince Andrew’s 50th birthday celebrations and Jack was on holiday with some friends. One friend in particular has commented: ‘Eugenie has told people she really likes Jack. He has established himself among her social group as her boyfriend. She is spending more and more time with him, whenever she gets to come down to London from Newcastle. Holidaying together seemed the natural next step.’ It seems that Eugenie is so serious about them as a couple that she even took him on a family holiday to the South of France this summer, where she introduced him to her mother Sarah Ferguson and her sister Princess Beatrice.

Granted it is early days yet in this budding romance and it might be over by next week. However, just in case she takes a page out of her sister's book and like Princess Beatrice dates her new boyfriend seriously over the next couple of years, it gives all of us genealogy fanatics a head start in culling the ancestry of a possible Brooksbank ~ Mountbatten-Windsor alliance.

KISSIN’ COUSIN’S

Princess Eugenie & Jack Brooksbank

Princess Eugenie's Descent From The 2nd Earl Of Leicester

Thomas William Coke, 2^nd Earl of Leicester

1822-1909

Juliana Whitbread. d. 1870

Lady Julia Coke

1844-1931

Mervyn Wingfield, 7^th Viscount Powerscourt

1836-1904

Mervyn Richard Wingfield, 8^th Viscount Powerscourt

1880-1947

Sybil Pleydell-Bouverie

1878-1946

Hon. Doreen Wingfield

1904-1991

Fitzherbert Wright

1905-1975

Susan Mary Wright

1937-1998

Brig. Ronald Ivor Ferguson.

1931-2003

Sarah Margaret Ferguson

1959-

Prince Andrew of

Great Britain

and

Northern Ireland

, Duke of York

1960-

Princess Eugenie Victoria Helena of York

1990-

Jack Brooksbank's Descent From The 2nd Earl Of Leicester

Thomas William Coke, 2^nd Earl of Leicester

1822-1909

Hon. Georgiana Caroline Cavendish

d. 1937

Maj. Hon. Sir John Spencer Coke

1880-1957

Hon. Dorothy Olive Lawson

1885-1937

Celia Dorothy Coke

1919-1996

Stamp Godfrey Brooksbank

1922-

George Edward Hugh Brooksbank

1949-

Nicola Newton

Jack Brooksbank

1986

Jack Brooksbank's Descent From The 1st Earl Of Harewood

Edward Lascelles, 1^st Earl of Harewood

1740-1820

Anne Chaloner

1742-1805

Lady Mary Anne Lascelles

1775-1831

Richard York d. 1843

Capt. Edward York

1802-1861

Penelope Beatrix Sykes

1810-1873

Lucy Mary York

1838-1893

Edward Brooksbank

1826-1916

Sir Edward Clitherow Brooksbank, 1^st bart.

1858-1943

Katherine Graham Lane

1863-1939

Lt. Col. Edward York Brooksbank

1888-1935

Hazel Lynal Thomas

1884-1968

Stamp Godfrey Brooksbank

1922

Celia Dorothy Coke

1919-1996

George Edward Hugh Brooksbank

1949-

Nicola Newton

Jack Brooksbank

1986

Princess Eugenie's Descent From The 1st Earl Of Harewood

Edward Lascelles, 1^st Earl of Harewood

1740-1820

Anne Chaloner

1742-1805

Henry Lascelles, 2^nd Earl of Harewood

1767-1841

Henrietta Sebright

1770-1840

Lady Louisa Lascelles

1812-1886

Lord George Henry Cavendish

1810-1880

Hon. Susan Henrietta Cavendish

1846-1909

Henry Robert Brand, 2^nd Viscount Hampden

1841-1906

Hon. Margaret Brand

1873-1948

Algernon Francis Holford Ferguson

1867-1943

Col.

Andrew Henry Ferguson

1899-1966

Marian Louisa Montagu-Douglas-Scott

1908-1996

Brigadier Ronald Ivor Ferguson