STEWART (royal)

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About us

The Stewart (Royal) DNA Project has been designed to cater for men who descend, or believe they descend, from the ancient Scottish family known colloquially as the Royal Stewarts. This family started out in Scotland when the first of the line, Walter Fitz Alan (1110-1177) was appointed High Steward of Scotland under King David I. His descendants became Hereditary High Stewards of Scotland, and the 4th High Steward, Alexander Stewart (1214-1283) was the first to use Stewart as his surname.

Descendants of this line of Stewarts belong to the R-M269 Y-DNA haplogroup and test positive for a specific Y-DNA signature: GATA-H4=10, 406S1=11, 565=11. They also possess particular SNPs below the L21 branch of R-M269, including L744, L745, L746 and others. The two most important branches of the family are the Scottish Royal Stewarts, represented by descendants of King Robert II of Scotland (grandson of Alexander Stewart) via Alexander's eldest son Sir James Stewart; and the Stewarts of Lennox, with some Scottish descendant lines plus the English Royal Stuarts, who descend from Alexander Stewart's younger son, Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl.