{"id":309856,"date":"2025-08-01T17:55:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/309856\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T17:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:55:19","slug":"queen-victorias-great-great-granddaughter-seeks-dna-test-and-approval-from-king-charles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/309856\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Victoria’s ‘great, great, granddaughter’ seeks DNA test and approval from King Charles"},"content":{"rendered":"

American claiming to be the result of a long love affair between the monarch and her Scottish ghillie hopes that science will prove the findings put forward by social historian Dr Fern Riddell<\/p>\n

18:00, 01 Aug 2025Updated 18:04, 01 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

\"AngelaAng, from Minnesota, now believes the long family ‘myth’ suggesting they are a new branch of royalty<\/p>\n

A woman who believes she could be the illegitimate great, great grand-daughter of Queen Victoria<\/a> says her ultimate goal is to gain recognition from King Charles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Angela Webb –<\/strong> Milinkovich, from Minnesota, thinks she and her sister have lineage which stems from Victoria\u2019s long, romantic relationship with her loyal manservant John Brown.<\/p>\n

New research from historian Dr Fern Riddell suggests that while on paper Angela\u2019s great grandmother Mary Ann was the only child of John\u2019s brother Hugh, and his wife Jessie, there is evidence suggesting the baby could actually have been the result of his love affair with the monarch, during which they were secretly married.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: More ‘lost’ Doctor Who episodes will be found soon, expert predicts<\/a>READ MORE: Gavin and Stacey reveals plans for James Corden and Ruth Jones’ new TV show<\/a>\"AngelaAngela and Dr Fern Riddell are convinced that not only were Victoria and John lovers, they had a secret baby daughter<\/p>\n

Angela, 47, is now planning to have a DNA test as the ultimate proof of her royal heritage. She says she has no interest in making money out of the story, only in ensuring that her family\u2019s place in history gets the recognition it deserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal is to have the story acknowledged – I want their relationship to be recognised and for the royal family<\/a> to stop saying it didn’t happen,” she explains.<\/p>\n

“If I’m going to reach for the top, it would have to be from King Charles<\/a>,\u201d she adds, when asked who she\u2019d most like to hear from. \u201cI mean, it’s a great story and it has his family involved, too. So he would be interested in it.\u201d Or Prince William<\/a> perhaps? \u201cThat’d be great. That’s acceptable,\u201dshe laughs.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Brown was loyal, dashing and handsome but his close relationship with Victora made him unpopular with other members of the royal household(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Angela grew up believing her family was descended from the royal line stemming from baby Mary Ann. She doesn\u2019t remember precisely when she was told this, just that they were aware of a story involving \u201ca big boat trip\u2026 and a baby given to the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Riddell contacted Angela during her four years of research for new book Victoria\u2019s Secret and told her she\u2019d discovered that childless Jessie and Hugh had emigrated to New Zealand in 1865, registering Mary Ann\u2019s birth there soon after – which might explain the boat trip.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Channel 4 <\/a>in the accompanying documentary, Dr Riddell argued that widowed Victoria could easily have concealed a pregnancy<\/a> in the 1860s, and then had the baby – her tenth child – spirited away to the other side of the world<\/a> to avoid a scandal.<\/p>\n

\"QueenA card that proves there was more than friendship between Victora and her servant John Brown<\/p>\n

It is recorded that, in 1874, Victoria paid for the trio to be brought back home to Scotland<\/a>, even giving them a large house to live in on the Balmoral<\/a> estate. After John\u2019s death, she also moved Hugh\u2019s family to be near her at Windsor.<\/p>\n

Angela was able to provide Dr Riddell with access to a treasure trove of new evidence from the Brown family archive, containing items and documents that have been in their possession for decades. Some of it comes from a safety deposit box opened around five years ago by Angela and her sister, who wishes to remain anonymous, following the death of their father. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what we had, just that they were items from John Brown and Queen Victoria,\u201d she says now. \u201cIt was always something in the back of our heads – we should probably get these looked at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite long-held family suspicious that they were related to Queen Victoria, Angela was still shocked when Dr Fern got in contact. \u201cI believed my family was being truthful with it, but we could never prove it. Once she sent that message, I thought \u2018What the heck? Is there actually validity to this?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"QueenVictoria was buried with items from Prince Albert and also John, including a lock of his hair and his mother’s wedding ring(Image: Bettmann Archive)<\/p>\n

Angela, who works as a mental health care worker, said her goal is for the love affair, which was covered-up both during and after Victoria\u2019s lifetime, to be acknowledged as the truth. \u201cIt’s something that I’m very proud of,\u201d she said. \u201cI want the vindication essentially for John Brown and just for my lineage, because they were not able to talk about it. It was something that just became that secret that we couldn’t really share, but we knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Dr Riddell\u2019s version of events is to be believed, and there is plenty of evidence to support it, Victoria and John enjoyed a romantic relationship lasting the best part of 20 years, until his death in 1883.<\/p>\n

As well as making reciprocated declarations of love to him on his deathbed – \u201cI told him no one loved him more than I did and he answered ‘nor you – than me\u2019\u201d – she also had made a cast of his hand, just as she\u2019d done with Albert. When her own death came in 1901, she asked to be buried with a lock of hair and photograph of the man who\u2019d been by her side for two decades since Albert\u2019s death in 1861. Surviving letters see her calling him \u201cmy beloved\u201d and \u201cdarling one\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Ang,Lawyer Robert Rinder finds the evidence in the programme powerful, but admits it is not conclusive<\/p>\n

However, on the others of her eldest son Bertie – about to be crowned Edward VII – the Palace set about erasing John from the record. Victoria\u2019s journals were copied and edited, and the originals destroyed. Bertie, who had often clashed with Brown, also ordered the statues and private memorials that Victoria had created for him to be removed.<\/p>\n

Angela\u2019s grandfather died when she was in fifth grade but she remembers him being upset about the way in which the Browns were airbrushed out of existence. \u201cMy understanding from my Mum was that he was just really upset and bitter about it,\u201d she explained. \u201cHe didn\u2019t like to talk about it. Now, having both my parents and my aunt gone, we don’t have those resources any more. So the bulk of the story I have been learning from Fern, which is amazing, and I’m so grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela is optimistic about the royals<\/a> eventually having to accept the validity of the claims being made about her ancestors, also shown in a Channel 4<\/a> documentary on Thursday. \u201cMy gut says it’s going to have to get acknowledged at some point,\u201d she reasons. \u201cScandals are always very exciting so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of questions for them to answer. If they don\u2019t say anything, that’s their choice. But I\u2019d like them to acknowledge the truth of this love, to recognise that it wasn\u2019t cool to cover up and destroy evidence of the relationship they shared. Let\u2019s be real, Bertie was a bit of a d**k to the Browns.<\/p>\n

\"JohnWhen John died in 1883, Victoria had a cast made of his hand, just as she had done for her husband Albert<\/p>\n

“That story deserves to be known, to have its own breath out there in the world. You don\u2019t get that kind of romance every day. It’s what you’d hope for anybody, that you would find another chance at love. So I don’t see why we should look down on that. It’s like an opportunity presented itself and they embraced it, and I think that is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angela says she\u2019s hoping to have a DNA test to prove her ancestry, but has been warned it may take some time because of the need for perfect source material for testing across the four-generation gap. \u201cI’ll let the scientists do the science,\u201d she says cheerfully. \u201cI’m a supporting character in this journey, and so I will follow wherever the story leads me. I’m totally open to it. So far it’s been so exciting, so cool. I’m just really stoked.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tattooed American, who wears a nose-ring, insists that she\u2019s not simply trying to cash in on the royals\u2019 wealth. \u201cMoney is the furthest thing from my goal in telling this family story. It has always been to get Queen Victoria and John Brown\u2019s story the truth it deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says she cannot think of any other reason why her family would be in possession of precious heirlooms from Victoria and John, including a brooch and lock of hair. \u201cTheir relationship was authentic and genuine. They obviously had feelings for each other. It went well beyond a queen and man servant situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"VictoriaThe couple spent a huge amount of time together leading to rumour and gossip suggesting they had wed, and had a baby, at the time(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There was plenty of gossip at the time about the pair, played by Dame Judi Dench<\/a> and Billy Connolly<\/a> in the 1997 movie Mrs Brown. In 1865, after Victoria requested John\u2019s transfer to the Royal Household at Windsor, two of her daughters, Helena and Louise, openly referred to him as \u2018Mamma\u2019s lover\u2019. And the following year a Swiss newspaper published a story claiming Victoria, then aged 46, had privately married John and become pregnant.<\/p>\n

Angela would be happy whether Mary Ann turns out to be John or Hugh\u2019s daughter. \u201cEither John Brown is my great, great uncle or he is my great, great grandpa. My family still played a key role in history with their friendship and closeness to Queen Victoria. I\u2019m proud of their steadfastness in keeping the legacy of John Brown alive and their word to holding the secret close. It\u2019s still a beautiful romance that deserves its moment of recognition in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

With her Scottish roots from her mother\u2019s side, Angela loves spending time in the UK whenever she can and admits she sometimes feels more British than American. \u201cI’ve always felt a little disconnected in the sense that I feel more at home over there. Scotland is my happy place. I would move there if I could, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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