Haringey Boy Uncovers Working Class Hero turned Swedish Princess in Family Tree

Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland

Last night the web of connections created by social media worked its magic to provide a couple of very small but wonderful social media moments.

They both came whilst I was scampering round my social media feeds finding pictures of the Wightman Road Fire. The first was when a Yorkshireman stumbled across our photo of a WWI Harringay solider on Google. The picture he found a reference to already seems to have captured the imagination of a few locals. WIth a little detective work a few details about Arthur Money's life have been expanded into a convincing pen picture of a man's life. Keith Knight may well have reignited the passion for building up a picture of Arthur's life when he stopped by to comment "My father most probably knew Pte Arthur Money during his service.....I have more information regarding their movements and actions in France during 1917 up until early 1918 if you are interested (war diary)". Only with social media!

The second moment, and the one to which the title of this post refers, popped up on Twitter as a reaction to our tweet about Keith's comment.

Over the space of a few tweets, Craig Brown tweeted the following at us:

@harringayonline Had my own weird revelation doing our family tree when we found out we were related to the current Swedish royal family :) ........working class welsh girl meets Swedish prince......and she's still alive! Oldest living royal apparently

— Craig Brown (@CraigLD) October 13, 2012

Craig was referring to Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland. Born Lillian May Davies in Swansea in 1915, she became a beauty and fashion model. Then in 1976 she married the Swedish Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland. More on Wikipedia if you have an appetite. Only with social media!

Here's the Twitter Conversation from the top:

An intriguing lead in our Harringay version of Who Do You Think You Are? about Pte Arthur Money who served in WW1 harringayonline.com/photo/snaphot-…

— Harringayonline (@harringayonline) October 13, 2012

@harringayonline had my own weird revelation doing our family tree when we found out we were related to the current Swedish royal family

— Craig Brown (@CraigLD) October 13, 2012

@craigld Wow! Your Boris moment, eh!

— Harringayonline (@harringayonline) October 13, 2012

@harringayonline haha hardly... My story is much more satisfying :) working class welsh girl meets Swedish prince en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_…

— Craig Brown (@CraigLD) October 13, 2012

@craigld @harringayonline naww that is lovely

— vicci (@vicclesticks) October 13, 2012

@vicclesticks @harringayonline and she's still alive! Oldest living royal apparently

— Craig Brown (@CraigLD) October 13, 2012

@craigld Great - get her on the blower. She can come and open Harringay Festival 2013! @harringay4shops

— Harringayonline (@harringayonline) October 13, 2012

@harringayonline @harringay4shops haha :) wouldn't that be amazing!

— Craig Brown (@CraigLD) October 13, 2012