Each month, Le Journal invites you to trace the family history of several personalities who have roots in our country. A sociologist by training and passionate about genealogy for forty years, Jacques Noël is the author of the essay, La diaspora québécoise. This impressive diaspora, which shines at the top of the arts, sports and politics, is completely ignored by Quebecers.
Historic moment in Westminster. Two hundred and sixty-three years almost to the day after the humiliating defeat on the Plains of Abraham, a Dion from America has just acceded to the throne of the British Windsors. Montcalm, finally avenged!
Camilla Shand, alias Camilla Parker-Bowles, new queen consort of the United Kingdom, Canada and 13 other colonies, is descended from Jean Guyon – the first Dion in America – five generations in fact from Dion in New France.
But how on earth could a cousin of Adhémar find herself on the most prestigious throne of the conquerors on the planet?
Camilla Shand was born in London on July 17, 1947. She is the daughter of Rosalind Cubbitt (1921-1994) and Major Bruce Shand (1917-2006) converted into the wine trade.
William Coutts Keppel (1832-1894), 7th Earl of Albemarle, great-grandfather of Rosalind, married Sophia Mary MacNab (1832-1917), in Hamilton in 1855.
What was the 7th Earl of Albemarle doing on the shores of Lake Ontario in the mid-19th? Keppel was Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Sophia Mary was the daughter of Allen Napier Macnab (1798-1862), Prime Minister of Upper Canada from 1854 to 1856.
Quebec origin
Courtesy picture
Marie-Charlotte Coursol, born in Verchères in 1756, Quebec ancestor of Camilla Shand.
Sophia’s great-grandmother, Marie-Charlotte Coursol (1756-1805), was a daughter of Verchères, hence Camilla’s Quebec blue blood. Marie-Charlotte married Ephraim Jones (1750-1812), a Loyalist, born in Massachusetts. To remain loyal to his king, Ephraim had emigrated to Canada after the American Revolution. Justice of the peace in Montreal, he married the daughter of Verchères in 1779.
Marie-Charlotte was the daughter of Michel Coursol (1707-1773), who arrived in New France around 1730, and of Marie-Josephe Guyon (1715-1807), born in Grondines, great-great-granddaughter of Jean Guyon ( 1592-1663).
Courtesy picture
Gravestone of Marie-Charlotte Coursol, who died in 1805 in Brookville, Ontario.
Alice Frederica Edmonstone (1869-1947), Camilla’s great-grandmother, was quite the firecracker. One of the most beautiful women of her time, it was said. In 1891, she married George Keppel. In 1898, the beautiful Alice became the mistress of the Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VII on Victoria’s death in 1901 (Alice and Edward had an extra-marital affair until the king’s death in 1910).
The encounter
The story goes that when Camilla first met Charles, she told him, “My great-grandmother was in love with your great-grandfather…”
Sonia Keppel was born on May 24, 1900 in London. Who is the biological father? The husband or the lover? Georgia or Eddy? No DNA testing yet in Victorian times. But as George Keppel will admit to being the father of the little one, he will give her his name. And the Dions find themselves on the royal throne.
CAMILLA SHAND’S DION LINE
I. SHAND Bruce Middleton Hope (1917-2006)
CUBITT Rosalind Maud (1921-1994)
Married 2 January 1946, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London
II. CUBITT Roland Calvert (1899-1962)
KEPPEL Sonia Rosemary (1900-1986)
m. 16 novembre 1920, Guard’s Chapel, Wellington Barracks, Angleterre
III. KEPPEL George (1865-1947)
EDMONSTONE Alice Frederica (1868-1947)
Mr. June 1, 1891, St. George, London
IV. KEPPEL William Coutts (1832-1894)
MACNAB Sophia Mary (1832-1917)
m. November 15, 1855, Hamilton, Ontario
V. MACNAB Allen Napier (1798-1862)
STUART Mary (1812-1846)
Mr. September 29, 1831, Hamilton, Ontario
VI. STUART John (1777-1829)
JONES Sophia (1785-1837)
Mr. January 21, 1803, Kingston, Ontario
VII. JONES, Ephraim (1750-1812)
COURSOL, Marie-Charlotte (1756-1805)
Mr. 25? March 1779, Anglican Church of Montreal
VIII. COURSOL, Michel (1707-1775)
GUYON, Marie-Josephe (1715-1807)
Mr. May 25, 1739, Vercheres
IX. GUYON dit LEMOINE, Joseph (1682-1754)
Guillet, Elizabeth (1694-1783)
m. 3 mars 1710, Batiscan
X. GUYON, Joseph (1649-1712)
CLOUTIER, Genevieve (1655-1725)
Mr. January 29, 1674, Château-Richer
XI. Guyon, John (1619-1694)
COUILLARD, Elizabeth (1632-1704)
Mr. November 27, 1645, Quebec
XII. Guyon, John (1592-1663)
ROBIN, Mathurine (1592-1662)
June 2, 1615, Saint-Jean de Mortagne, Perche, France