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 Queen Camilla’s French-Canadian Roots

On Saturday, May 6, 2023, Charles III will be crowned king of the United Kingdom and 14 other nations and realms of the Commonwealth, including Canada. Officially, King Charles is the Sovereign of Canada and our Head of State.

While most Canadians have no strong attachment to the British monarchy today (a recent poll shows that more than half of Canadians would prefer to sever our royal ties), French Canadians might be surprised to know that King Charles’ wife, Queen Camilla, has deep roots in La Belle Province.

William Coutts Keppel & Sophia Mary MacNab

Camilla’s Canadian story starts with her second great-grandparents. William Coutts Keppel, the 7th Earl of Albemarle, and Sophia Mary MacNab, Countess of Albemarle, were married at Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1855. The Castle now operates as a museum, with Queen Camilla as its official patron.  

Sir Allan Napier MacNab

Sophia Mary’s father was Sir Allan Napier MacNab, who served as premier of the province of Canada (present-day Ontario and Québec) from 1854 to 1856. MacNab was a soldier, lawyer, businessman and often controversial politician. He earned a knighthood for his military service during the Upper Canada Rebellion. Click here to learn more about MacNab.

Marie Charlotte Coursol

Camilla’s French-Canadian roots begin with her fifth great-grandmother. Marie Charlotte Coursol (sometimes spelled Coursolle and Coursolles) was the daughter of Michel Coursol and Marie Josèphe Guyon. Though she was a Catholic, she married Ephraim Jones in the Protestant faith in March of 1779 in Montréal, Québec (then a British colony). Born in Massachusetts, Jones served under the British during the American Revolution. After the war, he settled north of the border in Québec. Click here to learn more about Jones.

Jean Guyon dit Buisson & Mathurine Robin

The Guyon family was one of the first French families to settle in New France. Camilla’s ninth great-grandfather, Jean Guyon dit Buisson, was baptized on September 18, 1592, in the parish of Saint-Aubin in Tourouvre, Perche, France (in the present-day French department of Orne). He married Mathurine Robin in Mortagne, Perche, in 1615.  

Jean and Mathurine’s Canadian story starts in March of 1634. Along with fellow Frenchman Zacharie Cloutier, Jean signed a contract with Robert Giffard, the seigneur of Beauport, to sail to New France and work as a master mason and land clearer for three years. The contract signed with Giffard stipulated that Jean, Zacharie and both of their eldest sons would be entitled to half the land they cleared on the Beauport seigneurie, would be fed and their general needs met, along with those of their family members. Giffard also promised to give them each two cows if he had more than four, and to build each man a house. Guyon’s land was dubbed “du Buisson,” hence his dit name. Both men were given the right to hunt, fish and trade with indigenous people, a rarity in contracts at the time.

Jean was one of several Frenchmen recruited by Giffard to settle land on the Beauport River. Before the arrival of Giffard’s recruits, the colony of New France numbered less than 100. Attracting more settlers was crucial to the survival of the remote French outpost.

Jean Guyon and Zacharie Cloutier sailed from Dieppe with their families, alongside Robert Giffard and his family. Over a month later, they disembarked at Québec on June 4, 1634, and were welcomed by Samuel de Champlain himself, relieved to finally see a French contingent arrive. The new colonists’ first stop was a visit to the Notre-Dame de Recouvrance church to give thanks for their safe passage. The newcomers were then hosted by Québec families in their homes, but not for long. Before month’s end, Giffard’s recruits were already at work on his Beauport seigneurie, clearing the land and building houses for the colonists. Jean and Zacharie were then charged with building Giffard’s manor, located near the Notre-Dame river. 

Their contract obligations fulfilled, both Jean and Zacharie took official possession of their lands at Beauport on February 3, 1637. They lived there for several years, as demonstrated by the numerous notarial documents that bear their names. At first, the Guyon and Cloutier families lived together under the same roof. After some time, Jean built his own home.

Jean and Mathurine had at least ten children, eight of them born in France and two in Canada. By 1662, all the Guyon children (that survived to adulthood) had married and left the family home.

Some branches of the family eventually altered their name to Dion (yes, Céline Dion is also a descendant of Jean Guyon and Mathurine Robin).

Mathurine Robin died at the age of about 69 on April 16, 1662, in Beauport. Jean Guyon dit Buisson died at the age of 66 on May 30, 1663. Both were buried in the Notre-Dame parish cemetery in Québec.  

Are you related to Queen Camilla? See if you can spot any relatives you may have in common. Camilla and yours truly, The French-Canadian Genealogist, are 11th cousins (click here for a handy family relationship chart).

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 Sources:

• Darrell Bricker and Sean Simpson, “Canadians Conflicted on Future Role of Monarchy as Half (54%) Say Canada Should End Ties to Monarchy,” Ipsos (https://www.ipsos.com/en-ca/news-polls/canadians-conflicted-on-future-role-of-monarchy), 18 Sep 2022.  

• Gérard Lebel, Nos Ancêtres, volume 25 (Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré, Éditions Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré, 1993), 115-123.

• Kim Kujawski, “Zacharie Cloutier & Sainte Dupont,” The French-Canadian Genealogist (https://www.tfcg.ca/zacharie-cloutier-sainte-dupont).

• Kate Mansey, “Revealed: Camilla will officially be known as the Queen rather than ‘Queen Consort’ after King Charles coronation,” Daily Mail (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11792721/Camilla-officially-known-Queen-Queen-Consort-Kings-coronation.html), 25 Feb 2023.