Engineer claims descent from Saxon kings

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HASTINGS, England, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The search for people who might have been British royalty if William I had not been "the Conqueror" has turned up 500 claimants.

Albert Turnbull, a retired engineer from the northern city of Newcastle, appears to have one of the strongest family trees, The Telegraph reports. He can claim descent from King Cerdic of Wessex and King Alfred the Great and relationships, albeit distant ones, to King Edward the Confessor and Edgar Aetheling through St. Margaret of Scotland. He is also related, for good measure, to William the Conqueror. He says he is also a 23rd cousin of Prince Charles, the current heir to the throne.

Duke William of Normandy changed the course of English history in 1066 when he defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. English Heritage began the hunt for alternative heirs to mark the opening Friday of a new visitors center at Hastings, not with any idea of unseating Queen Elizabeth II and her family.