mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) is passed from mother to her children, unchanged for approximately 200,000 years. The mother’s daughters (only) then pass the same mtDNA to their children.
There are two mtDNA Haplogroups that have been identified, so far – T2 and H, that are connected with women from the European “Royalty class”.
mtDNA Haplogroup T2 came from Tsar Nicholas II‘s mother – Dagmar (Princess of Denmark) b. 1847. Thus all maternal lines for all the mother’s before Dagmar were T2. The Genealogics website starting with Princess Dagmar, can be used to trace all the Royal women who shared T2 back to Anna Maria – Grafin von Ostfriesland b. 1601, then back to Contessa Ursula de Gorizia d. 1383, and then back to Margareta von Werdenberg b. ~ 1290.
The Genealogics website can be used to determine the Royal / Noble women who will be Haplogroup T2. Starting with Margareta von Werdenberg, this website produces a large list of her female descendants. Just click on all the women who are her 10th generation descendant, and you will continue to see even more Noble women who are T2.
For Margareta von Werdenberg’s female lineage, there are 37 women who are her 10th generation descendant. This means that mtDNA Haplogroup T2 continues through to “some” of the later Noble ranks of women, after 1290 – however only a small number replicate through to their 10th generation. There are only 3 women including Christine (Landgrafin von Hessen) b. 1543, Elisabeth (Landgrafin von Hessen) b. 1539 and Sophie (Herzogin von Mecklenburg-Schwerin) b. 1508 – it is a relatively small number of the total 37 candidate women.
From the above 3 women, only Charlotte (Princess of Denmark) b. 1789 (descendant from Christine (Landgrafin von Hessen) and ancestor to Dagmar (Princess of Denmark)) and Elisabeth (Grafin von Spee) b. 1785 (descendant of Sophie (Herzogin von Mecklenburg-Schwerin) have female descendants who survive through to the present day – noting there may be more who are not officially listed on the Genealogics website.
T2 is reasonably rare, and may be used to help triangulate Royalty connections to a limited extent.
mtDNA Haplogroup H came from Queen Victoria b. 1819. Thus all maternal lines for all the mother’s before Queen Victoria were H. The Genealogics website starting with Queen Victoria, can be used to trace all the Royal women who shared H back to Marie Eleonore (Herzogin von Kleve, Julich und Berg) b. 1550, then back to Blanca de La Cerda b. 1313, and then back to Adelaida de Bezieres b. 1130.
The Genealogics website can be used to determine the Royal / Noble women who will be Haplogroup H. Starting with Adelaida de Bezieres, this website produces a large list of her female descendants. Just click on all the women who are her 10th generation descendant, and you will continue to see even more Noble women who are H.
For Adelaida de Beziere’s female lineage we get down to only one woman, Dona Leonor (Infanta of Castile) b. 1363 and then from her there are over 50 women who are her 10th generation descendant. This means that mtDNA Haplogroup H continues through to “some” of the later Noble ranks of women, after 1363 wherein it almost was completely “daughtered out” – however only a small number will replicate through to their 10th generation, as was demonstrated by the T2 analysis above.
H is believed to make up ~ 40% of the Eurasian Haplogroups, hence using it to help triangulate Royalty connections will be very limited.