Beheaded by a king, Meghan’s family ancestor

Royal lineage: Meghan and Lord Hussey HER royal story could end in a fairytale wedding. But a 16th century ancestor of Prince Harry’s girlfriend Meghan Markle wasn’t so lucky.

For Lord Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, went from being knighted for his loyalty to Henry VIII to being beheaded on his orders.

Research by amateur historian Michael Reed revealed that Lord Hussey was the greatgreat-grandfather of Christopher Hussey, who left England in 1632 for Massachusetts. It is this line of the family that eventually led to Meghan being born in 1981 in Los Angeles.

Back in Henry VIII’s reign, her family saw their stock rise through Lord Hussey’s loyalty to the King at the Battle of Blackheath and then fall when he failed to quell anti-royalist rebellion in 1536. For that, he was found guilty of treason, jailed in the Tower of London and executed.