Jesse James, Nicholas II and Me...

We're related to each other via Mitochondrial DNA, so somewhere way back in the mists of time, we share a common female ancestor.

It connects us to the Hanoverians, which is a pity as they are my least favourite line of royals except for the Stuarts, whom I regard as somewhat dire rulers and to whom we are also related. Thank you Anne of Denmark, though in fairness, anyone who shagged James VI/I probably felt she had done quite enough for history's sake. On the other hand, turns out there's also a connection to the first Viking warrior to have been proven female via DNA, so hey, finally a cool relative!

This would be more impressive if everybody wasn't related to somebody important via our founding mothers. What is more interesting is that my MTDNA haplogroup subclade is considered quite mysterious, and I do like a bit of mystery, despite having all the femme fatale features of Lucille Ball. Among other things, it's the one which shows specific signatures for Sephardic ancestry. In terms of DNA, the Sephardim have not been studied to the extent of the Ashkenazi or Mizrahi, because like everyone else in the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, they kept as quiet as they could through the battles of Christians and Muslims, some converting, some getting out before the Great Expulsion. Many made their way to the North-East of Mexico, among the earliest settlers there, where the signature turns up again.

I have an uncle who is a detective; he lives in the North of Spain now. It's long been a pet theory of his that we may be descended from Sephardic Jews who fled to the Alpujarras as the Reconquista marched down through Spain. I'll give him this info at some point.

And of my friend in trouble? Still too dreadful to write about, too many unanswered questions... He is alive, conscious, not brain damaged. More I can't write yet, not because it's horrible but because it is murky and we are all very tired.