Is everybody related to Charlemagne?

Question:

Is everybody related to Charlemagne?

I found I am his 32nd great-grandson and I heard so many people claim they are related to him.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: He had 20 wives and 100+ concubines. I don't see how he had much time for his day job. I've read that 75 - 85 % of the people in the world with French, English, BeNeLux, German, Austrian, Swiss and Northern Italian lines can get to him if they work at it. I'm his 42nd grandson. Your 32nd works out to 36 years between each generation, figuring you were born in 1950. My 42nd works out to 28 years per generation, figuring I was born in 1950, which I wasn't but is close.

Proving the link is the tough part. Lots of kings and more than a few queens lied about who they coupled with.

I have this gentle warning on my web site:

My link to Charlemagne, Emperor of the West and King of the Franks, depends on 1,200 years of record keeping, through fire, flood, worms, the fury of the Norsemen and the Black Plague. In one place our royal blood depends on a lady who worked in a castle, came up pregnant without a husband, and told her parents it was the King.

Well, let's see. Assume you are in that lady's situation. You can approach HRH and say coyly "Oh, you royal stallion, you've done it again." If the child is a boy and looks like him, the king may make him an earl, and you can live out your days in an upstairs suite in your son's country manor, with a maid. On the other hand, if you tell the hulking young assistant gardener that you have to get married, you'll end up living in a hut at the foot of the Royal Onion Patch, cooking for a man who washes his feet every other month.

I told my kids not to give themselves airs.