You were not Cleopatra/Isis/an Indian Princess/King Druid in a past life. More likely, you were a peasant in some poor village a few hundred thousand miles away, or the rabbit her husband killed for dinner one evening. That's right, reincarnation is not restricted to merely your species! Humans are not always reincarnated as a human, just like puppies aren't always reincarnated as a canine. Hell, your dog could be your mother three lives down the road. If you deign to tell someone that you were royalty or a deity in a past life, they will laugh in your face. Okay, that's not completely true- they might double over laughing when you leave the room.

Reincarnation can't be pinned down to any one culture. It exists/ed in many teachings- throughout the Orient, among the Eskimos, Ancient Greece, in Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and it was even a tenet in very early Christian churches. It was unceremoniously declared mythology and booted from Christian beliefs in 553 AD, when the Second Council of Constantinople declared anyone who believed in it anathema. Saint Origen was decanonised and excommunicated three centuries after his death because he had taught reincarnation as part of the church's doctrine.

Personally, I believe that there are old souls (those who have already been reincarnated once or more) and new souls (those who are having their very first time around). I also believe that you don't just get jerked straight into a new body when you die- you get a period of rest for however long you need, to reflect on how you lived your last life. However, I don't believe that you get to choose who or what you are, or which parents you end up with.