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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051011/wl_uk_afp/australiabritainroyals;_ylt=AsXgDqZGxZmdpM96Eosn6RcfYhAF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--
Talk about rewriting history.JERILDERIE, Australia (AFP) - If Australian forklift operator Mike Hastings is, as genealogists contend, the rightful heir to the British throne, then he really needs to brush up on his tea-making skills.
A documentary team from Britain's Channel Four conducted extensive research and concluded Hastings' ancestors were cheated out of the crown in the 15th century, meaning he should rightfully be the British head of state.
"I thought he was drunk to be honest ... then he came here and laid out his evidence, it came as a total surprise to me, it left me stunned.
The documentary's historian Michael Jones found documents in Rouen Cathedral he believes show that Edward IV, who ruled from 1461 to 1483, was illegitimate because when he was conceived his parents were 200 kilometres (124 miles) apart.
Edward's "father" Richard of York was fighting the French at Pontoise, while his mother Cecily was five days' march away at Rouen, allegedly enjoying the attentions of an archer, according to Jones' research.
The 64-year-old is a real-life aristocrat, born the 14th Earl of Loudoun, who moved to Australia in 1960 in search of adventure. "The family had the titles but we never had any money ," he said. "I never used the titles when I got over here, they'd have eaten me alive, it was bad enough being a Pom (British)."
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