by John Choate

The attached 1st pedigree lists a Scot, Malcolm MacLeod [GMB3-28F] as the 13th great grandson of a Scot William Sinclair [LCCN-H49]. 

This column is a series about the hobby of family history using  familysearch.org and relativefinder.org. Most anyone can conveniently pinpoint known relationships with prominent  founding fathers, celebrities, and religious leaders. English and Scottish descendants may connect with some 700 people in the data base, if their pedigrees are in Family Search. As of 2024, Family search has 1.67 billion searchable people, with 530 million sources to increase accuracy.  Because Donald John Trump Sr’s ancestors  have many descendants, he has cousins by the dozens. The family trees come from familysearch.org.  Let’s review the Swedish Royal lines.

Since the records go back many centuries, many of the names have had whole books of biographies recording their stories. Many biographies  are featured in the Dictionary of National Biography. The seven character code in brackets [ ]  after a person’s name is the code to find them in FamilySearch.org.  The country is Sweden and the people are Swedes

Kingdom of Sweden is in Scandinavia, and borders Norway and Finland. Sweden is the size of California and Massachusetts combined. The Viking age was from the 700 to 11th century, and some were the founders of the Rus.   In 1397 Sweden, Norway and Denmark formed the Kalmar Union until 1523.  Then wars started until the 1700s, lands were conquered and lost. King Gustavus Adolphus hired Scots (Cochranes) for battles in the 30 Years War  in the 1630s. Between 1850 and 1910 perhaps a million Swedes moved to the United States.  Sweden joined NATO in 2024.

Earl Sinclair was Lord High Chancellor of Scotland between 1454 and 1458 AD. The Lord High Chancellor  was a peer and the principal Great Officer of State, the presiding officer of the Parliament of Scotland, the Keeper of the Great Seal, presiding officer of the Privy Council, and a judge of the College of Justice.  Sinclair’s other titles were 3rd Earl of Orkney (last), 1st Earl of Caithness, 2nd Lord Sinclair, 11th Baron of Roslin.

The 2nd pedigree lists Malcolm MacLeod [GMB3-28F] as the 14th cousin 1 time removed of King Gustaf V Oscar (1858-1950 Reign 1907-1950) [LT6W-39B].  King Gustaf V is also a 14th great grandson of the same William Sinclair LCCN-H49] in the 1st pedigree.   

The 3rd pedigree lists Malcolm MacLeod [GMB3-28F] as the 14th cousin 1 time removed of Prince Oscar Carl Wilhelm Bernadotte (1861-1951) of Sweden [LHMQ-DVF]. Prince Carl is a 14th great grandson of the same William Sinclair LCCN-H49].   Prince Carl is ancestor of the Grand Ducal family of Luxembourg, and Belgian and Norwegian royal families.  Prince Carl’s father was King Oskar II, and Prince Carl’s brother was King Gustaf V.

The present ruler of Sweden, King Carl XVI Gustaf (1946- reign 1973-) son of Erbprinz Gustav Adolf von Schweden (1906-1947 [KV2L-CJD] son of Gustaf VI Adolf (1882-1973 reign 1950-1973)[ LHL7-4GW], son of King Gustaf V Oscar Adolf Bernadotte of Sweden (1858-1950 Reign 1907-1950) [LT6W-39B], son of King Oskar II Fredrik Bernadotte (1829-1907 reign 1872-1907)[ [LT9D-2TT][1]

Coming full circle, Malcolm MacLeod [GMB3-28F] who is a 13th great grandson, along withKing Gustaf V Oscar of [LT6W-39B]. who is  14th great grand son of William Sinclair [LCCN-H49].  Malcolm’s daughter Mary Anne Trump nee MacLeod [KL59-Z9K]  is 15th cousin to King Gustaf V.  Fred Trump Jr. [L5XX-XDH] is a 16th  cousin of Gustaf VI, nephew Donald Junior is 17th cousin to Prince Gustav Adolf [KV2L-CJD], Donald 3rd is 18thcousin to  King Carl XVI.

Conclusion, the Swedish Royal family down to Erbprinz Gustav Adolf is listed in Family Search.

Source of Swedish Royal Family is

[1] https://www.kungahuset.se/english/the-monarchy-of-sweden