It turns out Danny Dyer is actually related to royalty.
No, seriously.
In a dramatic plot twist worthy of EastEnders, the soap star recently took part in the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are? and records revealed he’s related to both William the Conqueror and Edward III.
Needless to say the Cockney hardman was completely stunned by the news. “It’s crazy,” Dyer told the Radio Times. “But the fact of the matter is that I am a direct descendant of royalty.”
And that wasn’t the only genealogical bombshell to be dropped on the programme as it turns out Dyer is also descended from powerful Tudor politician and Henry VIII’s fixer, Thomas Cromwell.
The influential courtier was a key player in the king’s early reign and had an important role in the downfall of Anne Boleyn – eventually leading to the queen’s beheading.
After looking into his illustrious ancestor Dyer was taken aback by the number of close connections he found.
“He came from a slum, I come from a slum,” Dyer said.
“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.”
Their careers are basically one and the same.
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