AHC: have a dynasty in antiquity survive to modernity while remaining in power

You still have the problem of the Solomonids needing to establish a lineage to Axum (and further back). Dil Na'od, sure, but how many dynasties did Axum have? Their descent from the Queen of Sheba/King Solomon is as much legend as many European monarchies are descended from Odin or the Japanese monarchy is descended from Amaterasu.
I suppose so - perhaps we have someone like Aphilas manage to conquer Kush and through there, establish direct relations with Rome via Egypt?
 
Well, Cornelii would turn into a prestigious roman family competing with Colonna, Caetani, Orsini and the others to control the papacy.
Now a very ASB one:
If Nicolas II was a Rjurik instead of a Romanov would the people consider him too ""sacred"" to overthrow him?
An even worse one:
It would be very interesting if Elizabeth II was directly related to King Arthur, Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror.

Now seriously:
If any very ancient dynasty still existed today its members would be almost gods in their supporters' eyes and even if they had no power they would be considered the best candidates by Royalist movements.
If there was a Bruce still around in 2014 there'd be a chance for Scottish Independence.
 
Well, Cornelii would turn into a prestigious roman family competing with Colonna, Caetani, Orsini and the others to control the papacy.
Now a very ASB one:
If Nicolas II was a Rjurik instead of a Romanov would the people consider him too ""sacred"" to overthrow him?
An even worse one:
It would be very interesting if Elizabeth II was directly related to King Arthur, Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror.

Now seriously:
If any very ancient dynasty still existed today its members would be almost gods in their supporters' eyes and even if they had no power they would be considered the best candidates by Royalist movements.
If there was a Bruce still around in 2014 there'd be a chance for Scottish Independence.

Weren't Romanovs cadet branch of Rurikids? And Rurikids is not much older dynasty than Habsburgs. And even Capetingians ruled France with different cadet branches several centuries and still were overthrown so I doubt that it would help. Probably best way is keep power of ryal family very small so anyone not begin revolt against them.

And Bruce family is even younger than Habsburgs. And might be that if Bruces not go extinction Scotland might remain independent.
 
The Solomonic dynasty goes back really far if you believe some of the legends.

The Bourbon dynasty is close: it's directly descended from Hugues Capet and I think indirectly from the Carolingiens. (It has been claimed that the family has Mérovingien origins but that is more doubtful.)
 
Hmmm...the issue becomes that the laws of probability start working against this outcome during European succession laws. If the house dies out in the male line only, it usually takes on a new name. The odds of this happening are fairly high over ~15 centuries.

Maybe this is cheating, but perhaps you could change European succession/inheritance laws such that a man who marries into a more prestigious family is considered to become part of his wife's family rather than his wife becoming part of his. That way you could probably get a noble house lasting over 15 centuries or more.

It would be very interesting if Elizabeth II was directly related to King Arthur, Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror.

She is.

(Well, maybe not Arthur, since we don't have good enough records to say who, if anyone, is descended from him. But I'm pretty sure she can trace her ancestry back to both Alfred and William. Attila the Hun too, as I recall.)
 
She is.

(Well, maybe not Arthur, since we don't have good enough records to say who, if anyone, is descended from him. But I'm pretty sure she can trace her ancestry back to both Alfred and William. Attila the Hun too, as I recall.)

British royal family can indeed trace itself to Alfred the Great. Some even claime that them can be traced to prophet Mohammed and Cedric, first king of Wessex who lived in 6th century.
 

Kaze

Banned
Once secure on the throne, King Henry VII sent a team to Wales which included a priest, a bard, and several others to research the Tudor ancestry from local records. Where-in they produced this geneology:

01. ARTHUR, King of Britain 495/504/507-538

02. Amhar [Anir; Enir] (d517)

03. Cadrod "Calchvynydd" (d556)

04. Yspwys (Esbwys), Lord of Ercing [Ergyng] (d581)

05. Cyngu "Carcludwys", Lord of Ercing (d624); he married Tegau, the daughter of Tudor “Mawr” of Brittany, the mother, not wife, of Alltu “Redegog”.

06. Alltu "Redegog", Lord of Ercing

07. Yspwys, Lord of Ercing

08. Mwyntyrch, Lord of Ercing

09. Yspwys, Lord of Ercing

10. Manan, a Welsh noble

11. Mor, a Welsh noble

12. Elvyw (Elfyw) (Eiluyw; Aildyw; Elevan), a Welsh noble

13. Kynan (Cynan), Lord of Clwyd [Denbigh]

14. Marchudd, Lord of Rhos, the head of one of the “Eight Noble Tribes” of Wales, resided in Denbighshire

15. Kerwit (Karwedh; Corwedd), Lord of Brnffenigl (Brynffanigl) [Abergele]

16. Senylt (Siaset) (Iasedd; Iaseth) (Iassedd) (Jafsedd) (Jafeth), Lord of Brnffenigl; = Nest

17. Nethan (Methan) (Inethan), Lord of Brnffenigl

18. Edred (Edryd; Edryt), a Welsh prince

19. Idnerth, Lord of Brnffenigl

20. Gwgon (Gwgawn), Lord of Brnffenigl; = Nest

21. Iorwerth, Lord of Brnffenigl; = Gwenllian, dau of Rhirid ap Pasgen

22. Kendrig (Cynwrig; Cynfrig), Lord of Brnffenigl; = Yngharad

23. Edynfed "Fychan", Lord of Brynffenigl [Abergele] & Seneschal of Gwynedd, d1246; =1 Tangwystl, dau of Llywarch ap Bran, Lord of Menai; =2 Gwenllian, dau of "The Lord Rhys", Prince of Deheubarth; had issue by 2nd wife

24. Gronwy (Goronwy), Lord of Tref-Gastel, d1268; = Morfydd, dau of Meuric, Lord of Gwent

25. Tudor "Hen", Lord of Penmynydd, d1311; = Angharad, dau of Ithel "Fychan, Lord of Englefield

26. Gronwy (Goronwy), Lord of Penmynydd, d1331; = Gwervyl, dau of Madoc ap David, Baron of Hendwr

27. Tudor "Frychan", Lord of Penmynydd, d1367; = Margaret, dau of Thomas ap Llywelyn, Lord of South Wales

28. Maredudd, a Welsh noble, d1406; = Mereditt, dau of David Fychan [ap David Lloyd], Lord of Anglesey

29. Owain Tudor, a Welsh squire, 2nd husband of Catherine of France, d1461

30. Edmund, Earl of Richmond, d1456 [= Margaret, the English heiress]

31. HENRY VII, King of England, exactly 30th in male-line descent from King Arthur, the ancestor of all succeeding English monarchs including Elizabeth II .

========
I doubt the veracity of the linage - Henry VII just murdered the rightful King (Richard III) at Bosworth, he had good reason to produce such a family tree.
 
Weren't Romanovs cadet branch of Rurikids? And Rurikids is not much older dynasty than Habsburgs. And even Capetingians ruled France with different cadet branches several centuries and still were overthrown so I doubt that it would help. Probably best way is keep power of ryal family very small so anyone not begin revolt against them.

And Bruce family is even younger than Habsburgs. And might be that if Bruces not go extinction Scotland might remain independent.
Good point, but I didn't mean cadet branch, I meant direct line.

Wasn't the Rurikid dynasty founded in 862?
AFAIK the Hapsburgs aren't that old.
 
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She is.

(Well, maybe not Arthur, since we don't have good enough records to say who, if anyone, is descended from him. But I'm pretty sure she can trace her ancestry back to both Alfred and William. Attila the Hun too, as I recall.)

I didn't know about Alfred and "possible Arthur" this sounds really fascinating.
 
British royal family can indeed trace itself to Alfred the Great. Some even claime that them can be traced to prophet Mohammed and Cedric, first king of Wessex who lived in 6th century.

The claims regarding decent from Muhammad are at best dubious, and those regarding Arthur even more so, but the decent of Alfred (and therefore HMQ) from Cerdic is pretty solidly sourced.
 
If you want, you can probably arise at a tradition wherein the Basileos Romanos adopts the family name Flavius and it becomes an attribute of the Byzantine Emperors and later Russian Tsars, but saying that that makes Nikolay II a member of the same house as Vespasian is tenuous at best.
 
Alternatively, a POD where the Japanese emperors never lose power to the Shogunate also does the trick.

I'd argue that avoiding the Shogunate would probably increase the chance of the Yamato dynasty getting overthrown at some point. If they have actual power than anyone seeking to be top dog could see them as a potential target and if things are going badly for the kingdom they're the ones who get the blame. Under the Shogunate they could sit back and let the Daimyo fight amongst themselves for actual power.
 
The Solomonic dynasty goes back really far if you believe some of the legends.
That reminds me - a POD with Emperor Amde Tseyon I managing to expand Ethiopia's borders even further than IOTL while having successfully seized control of Muslim-dominated trade routes might lay the foundations for an uninterrupted Solomonic line to reign over this expanded Ethiopian Empire.
 
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