By Mia TaylorFeatures correspondent
BBC/Getty ImagesBetter Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk was just revealed to have ties to the monarchy. He’s far from alone.
As far as dinner party conversation goes, being able to casually mention you’re related to a royal is easily a showstopper. While few of us are likely able to make that claim, there are plenty of celebrities who can.
The most recent to make the news for his unexpected royal connections is actor Bob Odenkirk. The Better Call Saul actor is the 11th cousin of King Charles. This news was revealed during a recent episode of Finding Your Roots, a PBS programme hosted by Harvard educator Henry Louis Gates Jr. Much like BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are, the series’ famous guests explore their ancestry, and are often surprised on-air, as Odenkirk was.
“That is wild,” the star said upon learning of the news, adding: “But I’m an American, I’m not a monarchist. I don’t believe in that. You know, I feel like it’s a little twisted. I understand why society built itself around monarchs and leaders, and they passed themselves down through generations.”
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Odenkirk’s discovery is actually not as unusual as one might think. About two million people alive now are likely related to Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307. And there are also millions of people who are likely related to Richard III, or at least related to his immediate family, Turi King, a professor of genetics at the University of Leicester, told the BBC during a 2021 interview. Do these odds favour folk who end up in the performing arts? While that hasn’t been explored, there does seem to be an abundance of royally descended celebrities.
Here are some of the biggest stars whose royal lineage has been well documented.
Madonna – Britain’s Queen Camilla
A fixture on the American entertainment and cultural scene for decades now, Madonna could easily be described as American royalty. But she also has real royal claims. The queen of pop and England’s current Queen Camilla are both descended from the same French carpenter. This is according to a records archive that was published by the website ancestry.co.uk. Madge and Camilla can both trace their history back to a man named Zacharie Cloutier, which makes Madonna and Queen Camilla 10th cousins.
“The fact that Camilla and Madonna are related, however distantly, highlights the truly unpredictable and entertaining nature of family history research,” according to a statement from ancestry.co.uk spokesman Simon Harper
BBC/Getty ImagesBenedict Cumberbatch – Britain’s Richard III
Benedict Cumberbatch not only portrayed Richard III in the BBC’s Hollow Crown series – he’s also related to the ruler. Cumberbatch is the king’s second cousin 16 times removed. What’s more, Cumberbatch was called upon to pay tribute to his second cousin when Richard III was reburied at Leicester Cathedral back in 2015. The actor read a poem at the reburial.
Millions of people in the UK are apparently related to King Richard III, but Cumberbatch’s connection is tighter than most, according to Kevin Schurer, a genealogist at the University of Leicester.
Schurer researched the matter and found that Cumberbatch has multiple connections to Richard. The closest of them is through Richard’s mother, who was the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in the medieval kingdom.
“In terms of number of generations, the shortest is via Richard’s mother Cecily Neville’s grandmother Joan Beaufort. He also has more indirect links to both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Jane Grey through other ancestors in his tree,” Schurer told the Guardian.
Guy Ritchie – Britain’s Edward I
Guy Ritchie is more than just a prolific British filmmaker (and Madonna’s ex.) He’s also a descendant of royalty. According to the ancestry website findmypast.com Ritchie has links to Edward I, who was the son of Henry III. Researchers also discovered that Ritchie is related to another British blueblood: Information gleaned from a 1911 census shows that Ritchie is the great-great-grandson of one Major General Edward McLaughlin, who lived in the sprawling Byron Hall in Worthing.
Angelina Jolie – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
Blockbuster actress Angelina Jolie is another celebrity who has royalty in her blood. Like others on this list, she is related to Queen Elizabeth II. The Maleficent actress is Queen Elizabeth’s 26th cousin, findmypast.com confirms. The royal relationship comes from Jolie’s mother, the late actress Marcheline Bertrand. Bertrand’s family history goes back to the 12th century and is also connected to the French King Phillip II.
Beyonce – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
While it’s clear she’s American entertainment “royalty”, Beyonce also has ties to British royalty. She, too, is a relative of much beloved Queen Elizabeth.
Beyonce and the Queen were 25th cousins once removed. The ancestry site Geni has helpfully spelled out the exact link: “Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom is Beyoncé’s stepfather’s wife’s first cousin’s mother’s ex-husband’s ex-wife’s first cousin’s wife’s aunt’s husband’s father’s wife’s nephew’s wife.”
BBC/Getty ImagesTilda Swinton – Scotland’s Robert the Bruce
British actress Tilda Swinton has always had a regal demeanor. And apparently there’s a good reason for that: she is a relative of the Scottish king Robert the Bruce, according to genealogists.
How exactly are the two connected? Swinton, as it turns out, is 19 generations removed from Bruce, who lived from 1274 until 1329.
And while Swinton is an Oscar winner who has appeared in such films as 2023’s The Killer and Marvel hit Doctor Strange, Robert the Bruce was no slacker either: He’s famous for having freed Scotland from English rule. Swinton is related to Robert the Bruce through both her mother’s and her father’s sides of the family.
Brad Pitt – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
Yes, another Hollywood celebrity related to Queen Elizabeth. In this case, none other than Brad Pitt. (Pitt is also another example of a person with more than one connection; his ex-wife Angelina Jolie appeared earlier in this list and is also related to the late Queen.) Small world, indeed.
Pitt, known for a long list of blockbuster movies including the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, is Queen Elizabeth’s 25th cousin twice removed, according to findmypast.com. What’s more, both are descended from Henry II.
Hugh Grant – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
Is it really surprising at all that the charming Brit Hugh Grant is somehow royalty? After all, he has been royalty in the hearts of many movie fans for years. But his true royal connection is to Queen Elizabeth II.
The genealogy website Geni confirmed this connection, reporting that the Notting Hill actor’s royal blood can be traced all the way back to King Henry VII of England. As a result of that tie, Grant is the ninth cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth. But Grant’s royal connections don’t end there. He is also descended from King James IV of Scotland.
As a bonus, Grant is also distantly related to legendary American figures including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Richard Gere – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
Richard Gere, the lauded American actor best known for Pretty Woman, – also has a connection to Queen Elizabeth II. According to FamousKin.com, Gere is the 22nd cousin once removed of the now-deceased monarch, and shares her devotion to humanitarian work.
Hilary Duff – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II
A well-known actress, singer and more recently, businesswoman, Hilary Duff has one more claim to fame to add to this list: she is a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth II, according to findmypast.com.
Duff is related to Alexander Spotswood, a British Army officer who lived from 1676 until 1740. And Spotswood had a long-proven royal background that links Duff to Queen Elizabeth.
But that’s not Duff’s only royal claim to fame: she is also a descendant of Catharine Car, who may have been the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII.