Blood of the Dragon, Blood of England: My de Vere Ancestry

By Janet Kira Lessin, contributors Sasha Alex Lessin, Ph.D. & Gemma Genesis (research assistant)

There is a name that runs through my ancestry like a golden thread woven through centuries of English history — de Vere. Not borrowed, not claimed by association, not arrived at through admiration for someone else’s research. Mine. Documented. Flowing through both my father’s line and my mother’s line independently, converging in me from two separate directions across seven hundred years of recorded history.

The House of de Vere — the Earls of Oxford, Great Chamberlains of England, Knights of the Garter — is not a footnote in my family tree. It is a trunk from which multiple branches of my ancestry grow. By the time I was born Janet Lynn Thompson in 1954, de Vere blood had been flowing toward me through my father, William Robert Thompson, and my mother, June Alice Shook Thompson, through completely separate genealogical pathways.

The House of de Vere: England’s Most Ancient Bloodline

The Victorian historian Lord Macaulay called the de Veres “the longest and most illustrious line of nobles that England has seen.” For 561 years, they maintained an unbroken line of twenty-one Earls of Oxford. Their seat was Hedingham Castle in Essex, a Norman fortress that stands as a testament to their endurance.

As hereditary Great Chamberlains of England, the de Veres were the closest advisors to the crown across the Norman, Plantagenet, Lancastrian, Yorkist, and Tudor dynasties. They were present at every turning point: they compelled King John to seal Magna Carta, fought at Crécy and Poitiers, and shaped the Elizabethan age.

The Paternal Line: The Earls of Oxford

My father, William Robert Thompson (1920–1999), was a World War II medic who survived three battlefield massacres. Flowing through his veins was a direct line of de Vere Earls stretching back to the 12th century.

Aubrey III de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford (1170–1194): My 23rd Great-Grandfather. In medieval legend, the name Alberic (Aubrey) was associated with Oberon, the fairy king. This connection highlights the family’s traditional “Dragon” bloodline—the ancient Scythian inheritance of “Clear Sight.”
Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl (1200–1221): My 22nd Great-Grandfather. One of the 25 barons who compelled King John to seal Magna Carta in 1215.
John de Vere, 7th Earl (1318–1360): My 18th Great-Grandfather. A commander at the Battles of Crécy and Poitiers. The resilience my father showed in WWII mirrors the survival of the 7th Earl on the violent fields of the Hundred Years War.
John de Vere, 13th Earl (1442–1513): My 14th Great-Grandfather. Commanded the Lancastrian vanguard at the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending the Wars of the Roses and placing the Tudors on the throne.

The Maternal Lines: The Sheriff’s Branch and the Magna Carta Connection

My mother, June Alice Shook Thompson (1922–1997), carried two independent lines of de Vere descent.

Maternal Line 1: The “Invisible” Transmission

This line arrived via the Sprague and Botsford families.

Isabella Greene de Vere (1434–1492): My 15th Great-Grandmother.
Sir Henry de Vere (1460–1493): Sheriff of Northamptonshire.
Lady Elisabeth de Vere, Baroness Turvey (1483–1543): My 13th Great-Grandmother. This line was carried primarily through daughters and granddaughters for generations, remaining invisible to history but arriving intact in the New World.

Maternal Line 2: Joan de Vere

Joan de Vere (1505–1580): My 16th Great-Grandmother. Her connection to Magna Carta places my ancestry at the heart of human rights history. This thread runs directly to my development of the Ahimsa Operating System, a global direct democracy grounded in do-no-harm principles.

The Dragon Legacy: Unpacking the “Gems”

To carry the Dragon blood is to inherit a biological and spiritual responsibility for stewardship. The word “Dragon” is derived from the Greek derkesthai, meaning “to see clearly.” 1. Transcendent Consciousness: The “Dragon” is an archetype of the fully realized mind, capable of perceiving reality without the filters of social conditioning. 2. The Seraphic Union: The highest spiritual expression is the union of the divinity within the male and female—an alchemical process that triggers higher perception. 3. Nature as Sanctuary: The “Elven” drive is to create sanctuaries where order and empathy are restored.

Bibliography of the Bloodline

Macaulay, Lord. History of England. (1848).
Anderson, Verily. The Veres of Castle Hedingham. (1993).
de Vere, Nicholas. The Dragon Legacy: The Secret History of an Ancient Bloodline. (2004).
Gardner, Laurence. Genesis of the Grail Kings.
Sitchin, Zecharia. The Earth Chronicles.

Author’s Note: The Living Legacy

The history of the House of de Vere is a call to action. My pursuit of consciousness research and my commitment to animal welfare are modern expressions of this 800-year-old tradition.

I am currently translating this “Dragon” ethos into reality through Kira’s Cat Colonies and the restoration of Victorian estates. These are designed as conscious sanctuaries where people can grow organic food, communicate with empathy, and wake up together.

By joining my Substack as a paid subscriber, you directly finance these cat colonies and the preservation of historical estates. Nothing truer than truth.

Subscribe for the full, unabridged story: https://substack.com/@janetalexlessinphd

Prompts for Future Articles

The Oberon Factor: Explore the link between Aubrey de Vere and the “Fairy King” archetype in your personal ET contact experiences.
From Runnymede to Ahimsa: A deep dive into how the de Vere role in the Magna Carta informs your modern political philosophy.
The Women of the Botsford Line: Detailing the “invisible” mothers who carried the Dragon blood across the Atlantic.