Welcome to the Royal Bastards in our 75th Anniversary Year, 2025.

The Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain, known to many as the “Royal Bastards,” and in polite company as “The Descendants,” is a lineage society founded in 1950 by some of the English-speaking world’s foremost genealogical scholars. The purpose of the Descendants has always been to foster the highest standards of genealogical scholarship.

Membership in the Descendants is open to individuals who prove descent from an illegitimate child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of a king of England, Scotland, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom. Since inception, the Descendants have set a high bar for what is, for almost all applicants, the compilation of a lineage extending back to the Middle Ages. All of the charter members and most of the officers have been Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists. Each asserted fact, and each asserted filiation from parent to child, in every applicant’s lineage must be supported with convincing evidence. Our standards are discussed more fully on the Membership page with detailed information for applicants. Other pages on this site provide information on our History and Mission, the distinctive coat of arms and badge of the Royal Bastards, discussion of our definition of qualifying royal bastards, and a bibliography of for further reading on the subject.