Sir Thomas Leigh was Lord Mayor of London in 1558.

He is the ancestor that links Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry of Wales

Prince Harry of Wales

Prince Henry of Wales , commonly known as Prince Harry, is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and fourth grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

 and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge as cousins. He was an Elizabethan soldier, diplomat and, for 40 years, the cut-throat Governor of Guernsey.
He is William's 12th generation great-grandparent, and Kate's 11th, making them 12th cousins, once removed.

Thomas was born about 1509 in Stoneleigh

Stoneleigh, Warwickshire

Stoneleigh is a small village in Warwickshire, England on the River Sowe, about 5 miles south of Coventry and 5 miles north of Leamington Spa. The village is situated about northeast of the confluence of the River Sowe and the River Avon.Stoneleigh does not have a public house...

, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to Roger and Anne Leigh. He was the great-great grandson of Sir Piers Legh II, who was wounded at the Battle of Agincourt

Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...

 in 1415.

Thomas was raised by Sir Roland Hill, a wool merchant in London. Thomas later joined Roland's business, and around 1537, he married Roland's niece and heir, Alice Barker, daughter of John Barker and Elizabeth Hill. Thomas also served as Sheriff of London in 1555 and in 1558 as Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

.

In 1558, after the death of Mary I of England

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

, Thomas led the procession leading up to the coronation of Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

. In 1559, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

In 1561, Thomas Leigh and Roland Hill purchased Stoneleigh Abbey

Stoneleigh Abbey

Stoneleigh Abbey is a large country mansion situated to the southwest of the village of Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.The Abbey was founded by the Cistercians in 1154...

 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

, and a house was built on the site of the monastical buildings. Some of Leigh's descendants lived in the estate from 1561 to 1990.