Monday, October 18, 2021

General Colin Powell: his aristocratic ancestry revealed

 General Colin Luther Powell, who died 18 October, 2021, aged 84, served as 65th US Secretary of State in the presidency of George W. Bush. The Gulf War commander who once patrolled the old Cold War border of East Germany with Elvis Presley, was descended from the Coote baronets, and could claim a kinship with Diana, Princess of Wales.

Colin Powell [born 5 April 1937], was descended from General Sir Eyre Coote, Governor of Jamaica 1806-1808, who had children by a black slave girl.

Both General Powell and Diana, Princess of Wales were descended from Sir Charles Coote, of Castle Cuffe, Queen's County, Ireland, created a baronet by King James I in 1621. Sir Charles was killed in a skirmish in 1642.

Powell was a fourth couisn, albeit several times removed, of the late Diana. Tenuous? Maybe. But if Sir Charles Coote had never lived then neither would Powell or the late princess.

-=-

No comments:

Post a Comment