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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if you have 4 British Grandparents?

513 replies

ThornInMySide84 · 05/11/2023 10:11

In conversation with friends last night about the perks of still having an EU passport I discovered I was the only one with all 4 Grandparents being British.

DH also has 1 non British Grandparent and now when I really think about it so do a lot of my other friends. I would say the majority have an Irish Grandparent but also Spanish, Indian, Chinese, Polish, Maltese and Italian amongst my close friends.

I recall reading somewhere that 25% of British people could get an Irish passport so I guess I’m now wondering if having all 4 British Grandparents are not being entitled to any other nationality is actually quite uncommon?

OP posts:
notameangirlhun · 05/11/2023 12:53

No, but as neither of my parents are British (even though I technically am by country of birth) that’s not a huge surprise.

1 Cuban, 1 Jamaican and 2 Irish parents.

I have an Irish and British passport. My kids also have both passports as Ex-DH is Irish.

InTheStars · 05/11/2023 12:54

Zero British grandparents

ImCamembertTheBigCheese · 05/11/2023 12:54

I did, they have all passed now Sad

FrostieBoabby · 05/11/2023 12:57

All British for me to at least Great Grandparents, some of the family have done the ancestry DNA test which three up some African genes which was quite exciting, I like to imagine there was some scandalous affair 150 years ago 😀

StoneTheCrone · 05/11/2023 12:57

They're all dead but yes, all English.

I traced my family tree on Ancestry back hundreds of years and it remained an all English line. My DNA hinted at Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian and Finnish ancestry though.

Scarlettpixie · 05/11/2023 13:00

All of my grandparents were British. I am 51. If you go back another couple of generations I have one Irish great great grandfather.

SemperIdem · 05/11/2023 13:01

All British here.

Would have to go back to great great grandparents to see any diversity.

Quite boring really! I wish I was still in some way entitled to an EU passport but no.

SwordToFlamethrower · 05/11/2023 13:03

Yeah. I'm native to Britain going back ten thousand years, according to my dna report!

Big surprise!

KombuchaKalling · 05/11/2023 13:15

No. 2 English and 2 Irish

tofutti · 05/11/2023 13:22

Not sure why people care where random people’s grandparents are from? Hiding thread.

goneaway2 · 05/11/2023 13:22

Does having dual citizenship mean you get taxed twice on income? I could potenitally claim German citizenship but wouldn't want to be taxed twice.

DojaPhat · 05/11/2023 13:27

Are you sure you're asking the exact question? It's the case that a person with Indian or African or Caribbean heritage can also claim to have 4 British grandparents. I see some have used the word 'native' to Britain but is that more specifically the question, because aforementioned Afro-caribbeans can equally be Scottish, Welsh, Irish...

LadyMacB · 05/11/2023 13:30

All British here. In fact, all Yorkshire. In fact, everyone is from Yorkshire going right back to my Great Great Great Grandparents - with one exception, a GGG Grandmother who was Scottish.

Alaimo · 05/11/2023 13:39

goneaway2 · 05/11/2023 13:22

Does having dual citizenship mean you get taxed twice on income? I could potenitally claim German citizenship but wouldn't want to be taxed twice.

Not necessarily, it depends on the country. I'm a dual UK-EU citizen and live in a 3rd country, and only pay income tax in the country where I live, not the countries that I am a citizen of.

But I believe US citizens (including dual citizens) have to do a US tax return regardless of where they live. However, many countries (including presumably the US) will have various double taxation agreements so that people are not taxed twice.

10HailMarys · 05/11/2023 13:41

They’re dead but all four of mine were English. And all Londoners.

I had an ancestry DNA test done recently and was actually surprised to see that I apparently have entirely Northern European ancestry. Given the areas of London my grandparents came from, which have been melting-pots for centuries, I’d have assumed it would be a lot more mixed than that, but apparently not.

giroux · 05/11/2023 13:50

@Grapefruitsquash I’m so sorry that this happened to you.

Prelapsarianhag · 05/11/2023 13:55

One Irish grandparent, but he was a Traveller and I can't find any documented history.

BebbanburgIsMine · 05/11/2023 13:55

Yes, all gone now, but all four were British.

My dad's ancestry is Danish though

Ohwhatfuckeryisthis · 05/11/2023 13:55

My kids did, I did, my mum and dad did, my ils did, but my grandma didn’t -all German emigres. But on dads and ils side english (and dirt poor) as far as we can go.

Fieldofbrokenpromises · 05/11/2023 13:58

Doggymummar · 05/11/2023 10:12

They're dead but yes I did, I'm mid fifties though

Me too - English actually on both sides as far back as I can trace.

MrsWimpy · 05/11/2023 14:00

No. They were Czech, Austrian and German.

I think a lot are solely British

mondaytosunday · 05/11/2023 14:07

Two were Irish, two were English but lived in India, I never met the one who stayed there after they got divorced.

Seashor · 05/11/2023 14:10

Near to retirement here and I have Spanish grandparents.

mn29 · 05/11/2023 14:10

All four of mine were British, same for husband. As far back as my grandad could trace everyone was British born. (No we didn’t vote leave!)

Newnametoavoidtrouble · 05/11/2023 14:43

All 4 were English. One farm workers family and a non-commissioned military family in a villages about 50 miles apart.