The Queen of England Is a Descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Newspaper Claims

The Queen of England, Elizabeth II, is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, according to a Moroccan newspaper that claimed to trace the monarch's genealogy back to the founder of Islam.

The theory first surfaced in the late 1980s when a genealogy guide for the monarchy alleged that the Queen was related to the Muslim Kings who ruled Spain from around 711 until 1492.

"It is little known by the British people that the blood of Mohammed flows in the veins of the queen," Harold Brooks-Baker, an authority on the British monarchy and the publisher of the royal genealogical guide, wrote to Britain's then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1986.

"However, all Moslem religious leaders are proud of this fact," Brooks-Baker added.

The claim gained little attention in the West over the subsequent decades. But Assahifa Al-Ousbouia, a weekly Arabic-language newspaper in Morocco, called attention to the theory again this week by publishing a family tree that claimed to trace the Queen's lineage from Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn Abbad, the first independent ruler of Seville in what was then the territory of Al-Andalus in Spain.

According to the chart published in Morocco and translated by the British press, Muhammad ibn Abbad is a great-grandchild of the Prophet Muhammad, who died in 632 in what is now Saudi Arabia. The line between the Prophet Mohammad, ibn Abbad and Elizabeth II thus links the current monarch with the founder of one of the three monotheistic religions, according to the newspaper.

Historians have suggested that the connection is possible but not entirely irrefutable. Marriages between Spanish and British royals have been common throughout the centuries, and both the British and Spanish royal families descend from Queen Victoria. Brooks-Baker appears to have connected the Queen to the prophet through a princess named Zaida, a grandchild of ibn Abbad who converted to Christianity and became the concubine of King Alfonso VI of Castile.

But some historians suggest that the connection between Zaida and the prophet is murky and unverified. And Brooks-Baker was himself a controversial figure known for making contentious statements that were often refuted by the British monarchy.

"Regularly quoted by reporters, Mr. Brooks-Baker's opinions on the British monarchy were characteristically American in their no-holds-barred approach," his obituary published in the New York Times read.

"An adroit publicist, Mr. Brooks-Baker often beat the reporters to the punch, issuing a public statement in response to the slightest royal transgression. This kept him extremely busy," the obituary continued.