Third cousin, 16 times removed encompasses pretty much the entire population.
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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Think you got that backwards. [Third] cousin means distance in relation, "[N] removed" refers to how many generations apart they are.
IIRC, third cousin is pretty close, n times removed is just generation gap. I mean it makes little difference, genetically, but being that close to a royal within written history is probably a good indication of generational wealth.
A true nepo baby.
LMAO @ third cousin 16 times removed.
I had to Google that shit. It means:
A third cousin 16 times removed is an extremely distant relative, meaning you share common great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent
What I want to know is how many 3rd cousins 16 times removed Brigham Young has? The dude had 50 ~~wives~~ child sex slaves and 450 children.
Kinda sorta. Cousins mean you share grandparents. Second cousins share great-grandparents. Third cousins share great-great-grandparents.
The the "removed" refers to generations. My first cousin's kid is my first cousin, once removed. His kid (my cousin's grandparent) will be my first cousin, twice removed. So 16x removed would be 14x great-grandparent/child.
In other words, Benedict Cumberbatch's 14x great-grandparent shared a great-great-grandparent with... Was it a king we were talking about? I already forgot OP.
laughs in temujin
Honestly, if you can find one famous person in your ancestry you can probably find you're related to anyone in Western history. IDK about Richard III but I can find many kings of England and presidents of the US I'm related to.
I remember a professor at uni telling us that at some time in the future each of us will either be the ancestor of every living human or of none.
Equally, if you go back far enough, you will find a common ancestor with every other living person, thus making us all related.
While that seems unintuitive – what about the members of some remote tribe without contact to civilisation? –, keep in mind that even the most remote tribe has to have contact with some neighbouring people . Otherwise they wouldn't have enough genetic diversity. And those neighbours are in contact with their neighbours and so on.
Edit: Changed "intuitive" to "unintuitive"... Oops
That's exclusively through the matrilineal line though. The most recent ancestor is much more recent.
But your article linked to what I was referring to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identical_ancestors_point (and the mitochondrial Eve is a cool concept either way)
Agreed about the concept being cool.
That’s a coincidence! A few years back my mother told me I’m the third cousin, 15 times removed from Melania Trump.
Removed essentially means "separated by a generation", so I doubt you're 15 generations removed from Melania.
I assume it's more like 15th cousin 3 times removed.
Us you are right! Mea culpa.
Just another goddamned nepo baby, then? I knew it.
His parents are both longstanding actors, and appeared as his parents in Sherlock.
In a few hundred years almost everybody will be the third cousin x times removed from Elon Musk.
Truly a cancer on mankind
I imagine many Brits are, they're just unable to pay for cousin reattachment surgery.
Everybody related. Charlemagne is your great grandaddy. Get over it.
If all men are brothers, would you want one to marry your sister?
To bring it back to Shakespeare:
Adam's sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred.
The whole island is inbred.
Not true, there are also a few immigrants holding on for dear life!
I'm your 19th cousin twice removed
I’ve a hunch I am too.
Let's be serious, there's a reason that island is known for its close ties.
Yes, didn't Richard the III play himself in black adder?
Was that the guy they found under a carpark several years back? The king, not the actor.
Yeah. TIL
Yes! Here's a nice summary of the recovery. https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/the-discovery-of-king-richard-iiis-burial-site
If youre a history buff, I highly recommend History Calling's video on Richard III and the loss and recovery of his body. It's lengthy but well researched and has lots of interesting context.
Interesting