So, we have a monarchy after all. Sigh... All those wars, and it comes down to this.
The fact is, the odds are pretty good for having ancestors who were the so-called nobility; the NEHGS used to have a title about tracing royal roots; according to that book or booklet (never ordered it), the last of the Plantagenets has or had a million descendants in N America, and his father (the second to last) has or had TEN million. And that’s not even counting wayward bastard children and such.