Tracing his ancestry back on this week's episode of Who Do You Think You Are Eastenders actor Danny Dyer has found he’s related to TWO kings of England and Thomas Cromwell.
Danny, 39, pictured above (BBC) is told that he can trace his ancestry back to both William the Conqueror and Edward III: "It’s crazy. But the fact of the matter is that I am a direct descendant of royalty," the actor explained to the Radio Times.
"People are going to expect me to be related to criminals," he says in the programme. "Maybe I am related to some, but I want to freak a few people out and be related to aristocracy."
Historian Peter O’Donoghue eventually tells Danny his bloodline goes back to 30x great grandfather William the Conqueror.
But the historical figure Danny is most thrilled about being linked to turns out to be Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s right-hand man.
Danny says he feels an affiliation with Cromwell: "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."
He also tells the Radio Times this week that his role in EastEnders, in which he plays landlord Mick Carter, was the making of him and saved his career which had been in the doldrums.
"There’s only so many times people are going to forgive you for making a shit film," said Dyer.
"[Eastenders] has saved me ... I would never have been looked at for stuff like Who Do You Think You Are? otherwise. I’d become a laughing stock. I had no money. I couldn’t get work. I was on my arse, but the show was on its arse, so it was a perfect marriage. They said: ‘Danny, we want you to save EastEnders.'"
Perhaps now Danny will go on to play more blue-blooded character? Would you like to see him playing characters from the west end rather than the east end? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter @Closermag
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