Aussie man David Willis discovers he is related to the Princess of Wales after taking test

An Ancestry search has turned up the most surprising of findings for an Australian man when he discovered a major royal link.

An ancestry search has turned up the most surprising of findings for a Melbourne man — he is related to the Princess of Wales.

David Willis was researching his family history — specifically his grandfather, who emigrated in the 1920s from England after his father was killed in WWI — when he made the royal connection.

“I wasn’t sort of able to sort of crack the code of what happened in the family and where they’d come from and we’d always just thought that they were the coal mining poor from Northern England,” he said.

“So I was just slowly did research and I used Ancestry to help me find all the connections of the families to go back each generation logically. And I remember reading Kate Middleton descending from northern English coal miners and started exploring the connections.

Melbourne based David Willis makes a remarkable discovery that he is related to Kate Middleton. Supplied

His connection to the Queen in wait is through their ancestor, Sir Thomas Conyers, the 9th Baronet of Horden. Picture: Getty Images

“That’s when I discovered her ancestors crossing over to my side of the tree and there were names popping up on my family tree and I thought this is a bit strange. So that sparked my curiosity and got me into researching it a bit further.”

To put to rest any doubt Princess Catherine belonged in his family tree — and to silence his doubting friends — Mr Willis took an Ancestry DNA test, which delivered conclusive proof.

His connection to the Queen in wait is through their ancestor, Sir Thomas Conyers, the 9th Baronet of Horden.

Mr Willis said he descended from one of Sir Thomas’ daughters, while the Princess is from another daughter.

“We always thought we were English miners and we are working class to the bone. Well, we are but our ‘saint’ comes through an aristocratic line descending from King Edward IV through his illegitimate daughter Elizabeth,” he said.

More than two million Australians believe they are, or could be, related to the British Royal Family, according to new research from Ancestry.

Mr Willis said if the Prince and Princess of Wales ever head Down Under, he would be “honoured” to meet them.

“I would greet Kate with ‘hi cousin’ and invite her and William over for a cuppa,” he said.

“This discovery truly feels like a Cinderella story.”

Ancestry’s Family History Expert Brad Argent said stories of a royal connection are quite common, however to prove it like in Mr Willis’ case is “rare”.

“None of us know what connections are waiting to be uncovered in our family tree,” Mr Argent said.

“Every journey is different. Some can quickly leverage the work of others through publicly available family trees, others, like David, may need to put in the work.

“The industry has come so far, so quickly – what would have taken years, now takes a few hours. David could have uncovered his connection to the Princess of Wales in a matter of days – and thanks to his work, others will be able to make that connection in a matter of minutes.”

Originally published as Aussie man David Willis discovers he is related to the Princess of Wales after taking test