Meghan Markle’s link to OLIVER CROMWELL – Prince Harry’s fiancee’s family tree revealed
MEGHAN Markle's family tree has been revealed as it emerges the American's ancestor studied at Cambridge University and was a friend of Oliver Cromwell.
The US actress, 36, is due to marry Prince Harry, 33, in a ceremony at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in May.
But it has emerged the American, who plans to become a British citizen, already has a number of links to the UK.
Reverend William Skepper, the princess-to-be's great-grandfather nine times removed, went to Sidney Sussex College in the early 1600s.
Mr Skepper graduated with a bachelor of arts at the same time as English Civil War leader Mr Cromwell, whose skull is said to be buried somewhere in the college grounds.
The connection - discovered by Australian historian Michael Reed - is all the more significant because Meghan could gain the title Duchess of Sussex after she marries Prince Harry.
Mr Reed, of Hallam College in Melbourne, Australia, said: "The Revd Skepper was at the college from 1612 and completed a bachelor of arts by 1618.
"He was the esteemed Church of England rector at Thorpe-in-the Marsh until 1638 and then decided to go to America - New England - to preach."
Nicholas Rogers, college archivist at Sidney Sussex, assisted Mr Reed with his research at the college.
Mr Rogers said: "William Skepper was admitted in 1612 and graduated in 1618.
"This means he was at the college at the same time as Cromwell."
But Mr Skepper, born in Lincolnshire in 1597, was a better student than the revolutionary leader, who left after just one year of study.
Mr Rogers said: ”Unlike Cromwell, he stayed the course and finished his degree.
"The entry in the admissions register is a very brief one.
"We do know his father was a Lincolnshire gentleman called Edward Skepper."
From 1630 to 1638, William Skepper was Rector of Thorpe-by-Wainfleet in Lincolnshire.
He emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1639 after marrying his second wife Sarah Fisher.
Mr Rogers added: ”We don't know much about his life in New England but he was dead by 1650.
"Meghan Markle is descended from his daughter Jane, by his first wife."
Mr Rogers also revealed that Mr Skepper's second wife Sarah is an ancestor of former US president Calvin Coolidge.
Michael Reed's research also showed that Kate Middleton's great grandmother, Olive Middleton, gained a place at Newnham College at Cambridge University in 1900 but turned down the offer to look after her widowed father Francis Martineau Lupton.
It comes after researchers at genealogy website MyHeritage.com revealed Meghan is related to some very famous Britons.
With Meghan soon ready to class the Queen and Prince Charles as family, her ancestry has revealed she already has links to Britain.
Meghan is legendary English playwright William Shakespeare’s fifth cousin thirteen times removed, according to MyHeritage.com.
And she is related to former prime minister Winston Churchill, who governed Britain during the Second World War.
The pair are sixth cousins, five times removed and are related through Zachariah Howe, who came from a family of British settlers that has roots in Essex.