Danny Dyer is related to royalty. Yes, really

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danny dyerImage source, Radio times
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Playing the landlord of The Queen Vic isn't Danny Dyer's only link to royals

Danny Dyer isn't necessarily the first person you'd associate with royalty.

But an upcoming episode of Who Do You Think You Are? suggests the EastEnders star and one time presenter of Bravo's I Believe in UFOs is related to two kings of England.

The show, which airs at 8pm on 24 November on BBC One, found links to William the Conqueror and Edward III.

Speaking to the Radio Times he said his new-found royal link is "massive".

Image source, Radio times
Image caption,

Yes, that's Danny Dyer

And it's not just royalty.

Experts also found ties to an English Civil War Cavalier colonel and a present-day lord who, in the show, invites Danny to his castle for a cup of tea.

As well as a set of relatives from working-class areas of London, researchers established a blood link with Thomas Cromwell, an English lawyer and statesman who was chief minister to King Henry VIII.

The lawyer, who was eventually executed by Henry VIII, was played by Mark Rylance in the BBC historical drama Wolf Hall.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

This Thomas Cromwell - pretty much identical right?

Dyer said the Cromwell connection really pleased him.

"He came from a slum, I come from a slum," he explained.

"Cromwell left the country at 14, I started acting at 14."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

No, Cheryl isn't related to Danny Dyer - she's one of the other celebrities who appears in the new series of the show

He continued to suggest his similarity to Cromwell goes beyond the fact that he drinks in a pub called the Anne Boleyn, named after the second wife of Henry VIII.

"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."

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