British historians claim Elizabeth II is a descendant of Prophet Muhammad

Some British historians believe the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II is a descendant of Prophet Muhammad (SM), the founder of Islam.

The historians claim the connection was found after tracing the family tree back 43 generations, according to the UK-based newspaper the Daily Mail.

The findings first came to the fore in 1986 when Burke's Peerage, a British authority on royal pedigrees, published a research paper. 

However, the claim recently resurfaced after a Moroccan newspaper said it had traced the queen's lineage back to the Prophet.  

According to their findings, Elizabeth II's bloodline runs through the Earl of Cambridge in the 14th century, across medieval Muslim Spain, to Fatima, the Prophet's daughter.  

The claim is disputed by some historians but is supported by genealogical records of early-medieval Spain and has also been verified by Ali Gomaa, the former grand mufti of Egypt.

Burke's publishing director wrote to the-then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1986 calling for increased security for the royal family.     

“The royal family's direct descent from the Prophet cannot be relied upon to protect the royal family forever from Moslem terrorists,” he wrote to Thatcher.

The Burke’s Peerage study says Queen Elizabeth descends from a Muslim princess called Zaida who became the fourth wife of King Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad of Seville. The two had a son, Sancho, whose descendant later married the Earl of Cambridge.

Zaida’s origins, however, are a matter of some dispute, according to UK magazine The Spectator. While some historians believe she is the daughter of a caliph descended from the Prophet, others say she married into the family.