Jennifer Lawrence might join Chris Martin on tour
They certainly rule Hollywood, but did you know that some of our favorite celebrities happen to be descended from real royalty? While most people can only dream about being a royal, some stars are actually related to monarchs. Keep on reading and find out who they are.
Brad Pitt
In addition to being the patriarch of Hollywood’s royal family, Brad Pitt also has a royal bloodline. Through his mother’s side of the family, the actor is a descendant of King Henry II of England, who ruled England from 1154 through 1189.
Angelina Jolie
Just like her partner Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie also hails from royal roots. It is believed that Angelina is a descendant of King Philip II of France through her mother, the late actress Marcheline Bertrand.
Hugh Grant
Hugh is a very well-known English actor, with the classic look of a noble Englishman and an accent. While some of the stars on the list give the impression that royal roots would be impossible, with Grant they seem very likely. The fact is Grant is the descended of two royal branches. He is a descendant of Henry VII, who was the first king of the Tudor line and he can also claim James IV of Scotland as an ancestor.
Paris Hilton
What do Paris Hilton and Brad Pitt have in common? Not much, but through her father Rick’s side of the family, Hilton is also related to King Henry II.
Robert Pattinson
Turns out Robert Pattinson’s blood runs royal; the Twilight star is related to Princes Harry and William. According to research by Ancestry.com, the British actor and the princes share ancestor Vlad the Impaler, who is also thought to be the inspiration for Dracula. “Tracing Pattinson’s family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to the ‘Twilight Saga,’” said Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com. “Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson’s life – making his story just as supernatural as the one he’s playing on screen.”
Brooke Shields
It took an episode of the TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” for Brooke Shields to realize just how royal her family tree really is. While she knew she had links to Italian aristocracy, she learned through the series that she is also related to both English and French royalty. Shields is directly related to English King Henry IV and to a cousin of King Louis XIV of France.
Ellen DeGeneres
The New England Genealogical Society discovered that talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is distant (15th) cousins with Kate Middleton. In addition to her blood ties to the Duchess of Cambridge, DeGeneres is also a direct descendant of King Edward III.
Uma Thurman
The beautiful blonde is a direct descendant of King Edward I of England, who ruled from 1272 to 1307. Thurman’s royal roots are from her father’s side.
Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal
Like Ellen DeGeneres, Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal are descendants of Edward III, the King of England from 1327 until his death in 1377, through their father’s side of the family.
Johnny Depp
Genealogist Nick Barratt, a researcher for the British version of “Who Do You Think You Are?,” believes that Depp, who was born in rural Kentucky, is 20th cousins with Queen Elizabeth. “When I examined Johnny’s history I discovered a likely connection to the royal family,” Barratt told the Mirror. “I’ve since established the family tree that demonstrates how. You have to go back more than 500 years to reach the point where his ancestors become royal.”
Our family tree goes back to Charlemagne, and about 5 levels of kings, before it goes down to lowly Dukedoms (ha!). Most of us probably have royalty in our blood -because they could afford to eat well, so their offspring lived to be adults. I’m also related to George Washington (by means of one of his cousins is a 8th? great grandfather of mine). The world is smaller than we think.
Keep putting these people on a pedestal and when we find out , they screw up like the rest of us we cant understand it. and I bet that king Edward III would roll in his grave if he knew a Dike was claiming royalty
The society defines what is valuable, and escapism in the form of entertainment is valued the world over in many cultures. If you are a major part of any business that brings in millions, it is fair to be paid based on your contribution. If an actor is the main thing people love about a film, that person bears much responsibility for its income and should be compensated accordingly.
Seriously, folks, researching your family history is fun and rewarding. I learned more about American history studying my family than I ever did in school! Study the areas from where your ancestors lived and what conditions were like back then. One warning, however,
genealogy is additive!!!
Hmm, I can certainly see Robert Pattinson as the descendant of a royal family, it is pretty obvious by the way how he looks like, and the way he is behaving. And even in the “Twilight” saga although he was a seventeen years old boy, he was acting like he was at least a Prince. And for Bella he really has became a Prince Charming, I guess after this movie, half of the women in the world started looking more carefully into the windows of each Volvo car that they were seeing in the road, well it is a bit shame to admit it, but I was doing the same thing, I was also watching those cars with the hope that in one of them my Prince Charming is sitting and that he will be completely same person as Edward Cullen, except the fact of being a vampire of course, as it is something I wouldn’t want my future man to have for sure. No matter how crazy I am, I certainly dream about a calm life and with a vampire by my side, I guess I would have to forget about simple life and tranquility.
Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal are brother and sister? Really? Hmm I never knew about that, but it is nice to know that they both are very talented; probably their parents are very proud of them, though probably they are more proud of Maggie. Honestly speaking I have gone for a few times into the bathroom as I was sick, while watching the movie “Brubeck Mountain”. I have no idea how could Jake possibly accept this kind of role? I understand that the movie became a very successful one, and he got a variety of awards for performing in it, but was it really worth considering the fact that he had to let go on his masculinity in order to perform in it? I guess this is the dilemma that Jake is supposed to deal with, as about me, well what can I say I am shocked.
I am wondering how this statistics about belonging to royal family was or not made? Was someone really losing his or her time while discovering a bunch of books proving this or that fact? Or it is just an ordinary rumor spread by the mass media, and in reality there is no even one word of truth in it? Well if the situation really is this way, then I would certainly not get very much surprised about it; I am used to yellow pages. Unfortunately when people have nothing to say they start making up things that don’t really exist, this way the rating is one, so they get their check by the end of the week, while the conscience is the only thing that really suffers.