The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States.
Second Edition. 
by Gary Boyd Roberts. Publ. by Genealogical Publishing Co. 2022. 1723 pages in 3 volumes.

The series is subtitled: Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History. So the collection represents distinguished immigrants, or descendants who became notable in their own right.

Volume I contains the introduction, acknowledgements, and descents from kings or sovereigns who died after 1307.

Volume II contains descents from kings or sovereigns who died in 1307 (Edward I) or earlier, French-Canadian immigrants, an Hispanic royal descent, coda, and abbreviations.

Volume III is the index, postscript, and comments on “Toward an RD 1000.”

“Notable” as defined by the author are persons listed in the American National Biography, the Dictionary of American Biography, the Who Was Who in America, the Who’s Who in America, and the National Cyclopedia of American Biography. 

Some notables with extensive genealogies depicted are Gary Boyd Roberts (the author), Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, Dag Hammarskjöld, Sir Ferdinando Gorges (founder of Maine), and a daughter of Leo, Count Tolstoy. 

Ancestries go back to the times of barbaric chieftains, feudal kings, and families of inherited nobility. Their progeny and in-laws became landed gentry whose offspring became merchants, ministers, intellectuals, bureaucrats, and soldiers. From these prominent factions came the founders of the American colonies.

Genealogists who avidly follow the histories of royal-descended luminaries will find great satisfaction from this sterling resource put together by an exceptionally capable author.

The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States is available from Genealogical Publishing Co. at: https://genealogical.com/2018/04/09/announcing-the-royal-descents-of-900-immigrants/.