| For the Murray-Priors of the late 19th and early 20th century, their chief 'castle in the air' was their royal ‘blood line’. Robert M-P, Thomas Bertram M-P and TLM-P's grandson Robert Hickson each demonstrated that the family could be traced back to various royalty including [[wp>Cerdic_of_Wessex|King Cerdic]] (d. 534), Emperor [[wp>Charlemagne|Charlemagne]] and [[wp>Edward_I_of_England|King Edward I]].((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, ms written 1901-05 NLA Nq929.2M984;Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d.; R.R.B. Hickson, //The Historic Family Tree of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior//, Sydney: R. Hickson, 1980.)) That TLM-P was a 'direct descendant of Edward I' was considered important enough to figure in his entry in //The Australian Encyclopaedia//.((Sydney: The Grolier Society, date?, Vol. VI, pp.205-06.)) Even the Royal Geographical Society of Australia joined in, with the 1953 publication in their //Queensland Geographical Journal// of Isobel Hannah’s ‘The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster General of Queensland’.((Vol. LV, no 41.)) The following chart is from that article, headed 'Royal Descent' and highlighting the Jardines as well as Murray-Priors, is a good example how selective a line of descent could be.\\ | For the Murray-Priors of the late 19th and early 20th century, their chief 'castle in the air' was their royal ‘blood line’. Robert M-P, Thomas Bertram M-P and TLM-P's grandson Robert Hickson each demonstrated that the family could be traced back to various royalty including [[wp>Cerdic_of_Wessex|King Cerdic]] (d. 534), Emperor [[wp>Charlemagne|Charlemagne]] and [[wp>Edward_I_of_England|King Edward I]].((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, ms written 1901-05 NLA Nq929.2M984; Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d.; R.R.B. Hickson, //The Historic Family Tree of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior//, Sydney: R. Hickson, 1980.)) It is very difficult to obtain irrefutable evidence of descent going back so many generations and at least one authority considered that Rowan Hickson's family tree was flawed as 'many of the pedigrees which he has compiled are inaccurate and follow secondary sources and 19th century errors.'((The MacCarthy Mór, Prince of Desmond, letter to Her Majesty Queen Susan of the Albanians, 22 August 1988, courtesy Fiona & Emma Cullen-Ward)). In the past, that TLM-P was a 'direct descendant of Edward I' was considered important enough to figure in his entry in //The Australian Encyclopaedia//.((Sydney: The Grolier Society, date?, Vol. VI, pp.205-06.)) Even the Royal Geographical Society of Australia joined in, with the 1953 publication in their //Queensland Geographical Journal// of Isobel Hannah’s ‘The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster General of Queensland’.((Vol. LV, no 41, pp.11-17.)) The following chart from that article is titled 'Royal Descent' and highlights the Jardines as well as Murray-Priors. It is a good example how selective a line of descent could be.\\ |