From Danny Dyer’s royal blood line to Meghan Markle and Winston Churchill: Hollywood stars, actors and royals who have unlikely famous relatives – after it was revealed Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson are distant cousins

This week it emerged that Taylor Swift is a distant cousin of celebrated American poet Emily Dickinson.

The superstar singer is connected to the 19th century writer through an English immigrant who moved to Connecticut in the 17th century.

But Swift is by no means the only famous name who has a similarly gilded ancestor, as MailOnline reveals below.  

Meghan Markle  – distant cousin of Winston Churchill

Even before she married into the Royal Family, Meghan Markle could lay claim to more than one celebrated ancestor, although she likely wasn’t aware of the connections.  

In 2017, researchers discovered that she is related to both wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and William Shakespeare.

According to ancestry website MyHeritage, she is the sixth cousin five times removed of Churchill and is the fifth cousin 13 times removed of Shakespeare.

Even before she married into the Royal Family, Meghan Markle could lay claim to more than one celebrated ancestor, although she likely wasn’t aware of the connections. In 2017, researchers discovered that she is related to both wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and William Shakespeare

The Duchess of Sussex and Churchill are both descendants of Sarah and Zachariah Howe

The Duchess of Sussex and Churchill are both descendants of Sarah and Zachariah Howe.

Zachariah was born in Essex in 1640 and moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, in search of a new life.

There he met his wife, Sarah, née Gilbert, who was the daughter of Matthew Gilbert, a man born in Somerset who later became the deputy governor of New Haven Colony.

Meghan is a distant descendant of their son, John, while Sir Winston is descended from their daughter, Sarah Curtis.

Queen Camilla – distant cousin of Kit Harrington 

Queen Camilla is related to Harrington through John Tufton, the 2nd Earl of Thanet.

The Earl was an ardent Royalist who took part in the indecisive Battle of Edgehill in 1642, after Charles had declared war on Parliamentarian ‘rebels’. 

The King ultimately lost the Civil War and was executed for High Treason in 1649. 

The Battle of Edgehill was one of the first of the Civil War, which broke out over Charles’s belief in the divine right of kings and his quarrels with Parliament.

Queen Camilla is related to Harrington through John Tufton, the 2nd Earl of Thanet. The Earl was an ardent Royalist who took part in the indecisive Battle of Edgehill in 1642, after Charles had declared war on Parliamentarian ‘rebels’ 

The conflict, which was fought near Edge Hill in Warwickshire, was bloody and chaotic, with both the Royalist and Parliamentary side losing a similar number of men.

It prevented either side from gaining a quick victory in the war and ultimately meant that the fighting would go on for four years.

The Earl of Thanet, who Camilla is related to on her mother’s side, was later forced to surrender to the parliamentarian army and his home, Wiston House in West Sussex, was occupied.

The Earl was then able to escape to France, leaving his wife and children in England.

He returned in 1644 and was fined by Parliament, prompting him to sell his looted home.

After the Restoration in 1660, when the deposed monarch’s son, King Charles II, was installed, the Earl’s place of residence was listed as Lord’s Place, in Lewes.

While attempting to avoid paying tax on it, he described it as a ‘ruinous and useless house for the most part fallen downe and lying waste.’

The aristocrat died in 1664.

Harrington famously played the character Jon Snow in the long-running Game of Thrones series.

Danny Dyer

When EastEnders star Danny Dyer appeared on BBC ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016, few would have expected that he would be related to one royal, let alone two. 

Dyer discovered he is a direct descendant of both King Edward III and William the Conqueror, as well as Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s advisor. 

In 2019, he uncovered further gilded connections in his BBC show Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family. 

When EastEnders star Danny Dyer appeared on BBC ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016, few would have expected that he would be related to one royal, let alone two. Dyer discovered he is a direct descendant of both King Edward III (right) and William the Conqueror, as well as Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s advisor

He found that he is also the 26th great-grandson of King Louis IX.

It was his connection with Cromwell that resonated most. He previously told the Radio Times: ‘He came from a slum, I come from a slum.

‘Cromwell left the country at 14, I started acting at 14. He was a self-taught lawyer. I’m a self-taught actor. Cromwell had two daughters and a son.

‘I’ve got two daughters and a son. Cromwell wrote his last letter to Henry VIII begging for his life, on July 24, which is my birthday… And I drink in the Anne Boleyn pub.’

Benedict Cumberbatch – third cousin 16 times removed of Richard III

When the remains of Richard III were reburied in Leicester Cathedral in 2015, three years after they had been found in a car park in the city, there was one unlikely attendee at the ceremony.

Benedict Cumberbatch is a third cousin 16 times removed of the doomed 15th century king.

He read Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, Richard, at the service, which was broadcast on Channel 4.

At the time, Cumberbatch was starring as Richard in BBC drama The Hollow Crown. 

Benedict Cumberbatch is a third cousin 16 times removed of Richard III. His remains were discovered in a Leicester car park in 2012. Cumberbatch read Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, Richard, at the monarch’s reburial service in Leicester Cathedral in 2015 (above left), which was broadcast on Channel 4

Russell Crowe – related to the last man to be beheaded in Britain

In January, Crowe revealed on X that he had discovered his connection to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, who he is related to on his father’s side. 

He was executed on Tower Hill in 1747.

Fraser’s killing led to the phrase ‘laughing your head off’ when, moments before he was put to death, a scaffold holding spectators collapsed, prompting the rebel to break out in fits of the giggles. 

The Scot was executed after supporting the doomed Jacobite figurehead Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. 

Crowe said he has also tracked down his Italian great-great-grandfather, Luigi Ghezzi.

He said: ‘I’ve been on the hunt to track down my Italian forebears for quite some time.

‘Folkloric family tales and misspelling had seen me travel on a number of wrong tracks.’

Ghezzi was born in 1829 and went to Argentina to work before being shipwrecked during a voyage to India.

Hollywood star Russell Crowe is related to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, who became the last man to be beheaded in Britain in 1747

He ended up in Cape Town, where he met his wife Mary Ann Curtain and the couple moved to New Zealand.

Crowe added: ‘Also something else that has recently come to light on my fathers mothers side, via John ( Jock ) Fraser (arrived in NZ in 1841) we directly connect back to Simon Fraser. 11th Lord Lovat. Look him up.

‘He’s quite the character. The Old Fox they used to call him.

‘Seems his Machiavellian ways caught up to him at the age of 80, & he has a claim to infamy as the last man to have the head chopped off his living body in the Tower of London. His death even coined a phrase.

‘Apparently, they set up temporary stands for the gentry to watch him die.

‘One of these stands collapsed which resulted in the death of 9 onlookers.

‘Being told this just before he was put to death made him laugh. He was still laughing when the blade struck his neck, thereby ‘laughing his head off’. Fascinating.’

Taylor Swift – related to Emily Dickinson

This week, genealogy network Ancestry revealed that superstar singer Taylor Swift is the sixth cousin three times removed of American poet Emily Dickinson.

Dickinson, who died in 1886, was celebrated for her departure from literary conventions and challenging of societal norms.

According to Ancestry, the pair are both descended from a 17th century English immigrant who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut.

Swift’s ancestors remained in Connecticut for six generations until the family settled in northwestern Pennsylvania. It is there that they married into the Swift family line. 

This week, genealogy network Ancestry revealed that superstar singer Taylor Swift is the sixth cousin three times removed of American poet Emily Dickinson