The discovery was made by Michael Reed, from Australia when he was researching the famous Blakiston-Bowes Cabinet.
Built in Newcastle in around 1700, the cabinet is now housed at the New York MET Museum and is coincidentally due to be seen by Prince William and his pregnant wife Kate during their first official visit there.
The extravagant piece, which has both the Blakiston and Bowes family crests on it's doors, was made to celebrate the wedding between the two biggest families in County Durham - the Blakistons and the Bowes-Lyons.
And it was this wedding that makes the connection between Queen Elizabeth's mother and the Duchess of Cambridge with Sir William Blakiston, of Gibside Hall, near Gateshead, being the common ancestor that they share.
Elizabeth, Sir William's great granddaughter, married into the Bowes-Lyon family. Elizabeth's descendent is the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who last visited the family estate in 1968.
Michael Reed said his research revealed that the Blakiston Baronets and the Baronets of Conyers of Hordern, Kate's ancestors, were the wealthiest landowners in Northern England.
They married into the Bowes-Lyon family so that they could share each others' vast coal estates at Gibside.
Michael added that this connection could even be the reason for the crown that was worn by the Duchess on her wedding day.
'It makes sense that Kate wore the Queen Mother's tiara when she married Prince William - both women share a great deal, Durham ancestry, the vast Gibside Estate and the same famous cabinet.'
Kate's direct ancestor, Sir Thomas Blakiston Conyers, also attended the funeral of his Gibside cousin Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
She was the Queen Mother's great-great-great-grandmother, considered at the time of her death in 1800 to be the wealthiest woman in England.
Weardale Royalist Anita Atkinson agreed that the discovery was not actually surprising, especially since there was a strong connection with The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle.
'It does not surprise me at all.' said the Royalist adding: 'When Kate married William, I hoped that she would take County Durham from where the Queen Mother left it because each member of the Royal family used to have their own area and when the Queen Mother was alive she was always here.'
Anita added that it is not uncommon to find this kind of ancestral connection within the royal family.
'Of course we have to remember that the Queen Mother was not royal, she was only a member of the Royal family because she married a prince, but if we look at the ancestry of the Royal family we would see that they were intermarried all the time.'
By Martha Cliff
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