At last we know why Gavin Newsom struts around like he's royalty: not only is he rich, but his he's got a French king in his family. Maybe.
According to a geneologist, you can trace Gavin's family back to Robert II, King of France from 996 to 1031. It takes quite a few steps to get there, with 36 generations between the two leaders. In other words, Robert is Gavin's grandfather, prefaced with the word "great" 32 times.
Some of the intermediary ancestors have biographies on a genealogy wiki. They include Tessa Thomas Menzies, born in San Francisco in 1946 and the mother of Gavin.
Then there's William Newsom II, Gavin's father, and a friend of Edward Brown. Edward Brown was Governor of California in the 1960s, and his son is current-governor Jerry Brown. We did abolish the monarchy in this country, right?
Other Newsom forbears are Arthur Liddel Menzies, a curator at Strybing Arboretum, and Kenneth Menzies, born in Scotland in the 1800s. Then there's Samuel Case, who lived in Connecticut in the 1600s, and the Fortesques of Whympston (northern England) in the mid-1300s.
Keep turning back the pages of time and you'll get to the Mohun clan, then Geodeheut de Toeni in the 1100s. That's when the names get fancy, with Baudouin III, Count of Hainaut. And then, finally, in 972, Robert II, also known as The Pious and The Wise, was born. He would rule millions for most of his life. Just like Gavin Newsom.
