Johnny Depp's British Royalty Blood: Cousins With Queen Elizabeth?

Johnny Depp was nowhere to be seen at this month's epic Royal Wedding, and as it turns out, his omission from the guest list could have been a major snub. He is, after all, probably part of the family.

According to Nick Barratt, a genealogist for the BBC show "Who Do You Think You Are," Depp is likely 20th cousins with Queen Elizabeth, with the connection being a shared great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.

The connection, Barratt told The Daily Mirror, requires one to go back 600 years to an unconfirmed marriage in the 1400's in Yorkshire, England; while that may seem tenuous, given the terrific documentation of Depp's long line of English and French ancestors, Barratt said, "I believe the balance of probability is that there is indeed a link between Depp and the royals - though I doubt we'll ever be able to prove it 100 percent."

Despite the royal revelation, Depp's next project is inspired by a different line of ancestry: his Cherokee Indian heritage. Depp will play Tonto in a reinvented big screen version of "The Lone Ranger," in which the Native American sidekick takes a lead role.

"The interesting thing," he told Entertainment Weekly while discussing his connection to the Cherokee Tribe, "if you find out you've got Native American blood, which a lot of people do, is you think about where it comes from and go back and read the great books, Dee Brown's 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' or [John Ehle's] 'Trail of Tears,' you have to think, somewhere along the line, 'I'm the product of some horrific rape.' You just have that little sliver in your chemical makeup."

Currently, Depp is promoting his newest "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, which hits theaters on Friday.

For more on Depp's Royal Family roots, click over to the Daily Mirror.

Comments

[familyforest]

11:18 PM on 06/01/2011

See Johnny Depp and his famous relatives; He has them we all do too if we go back far enough and can connect to a common ancestor.
http://familyforest.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/johnny-depps-famous-relatives/

[MarsAmbassador]

04:02 AM on 05/27/2011

Go back far enough, we're ALL 20th cousins with the Queen.

[deluk]

06:00 PM on 05/18/2011

Does this mean she has to sleep with him to further the royal dynasty?

[familyforest]

04:21 PM on 05/18/2011

Here is a better story on Johnny Depp and his famous relatives:http://familyforest.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/johnny-depps-famous-relatives/

[eShirl]

06:12 AM on 05/17/2011

Why is this even a story?

[Lahonda]

03:28 AM on 05/17/2011

I'm related to the queen, but it's through one of her maids. I think that might be "shockingly" closer than JD.

[Helloise]

08:02 AM on 05/17/2011

Good on you, Lahonda. Downstairs is always more cognizant and interesting than upstairs.

[MikeDu]

12:12 AM on 05/17/2011

The nice thing about press releases is they don't have to be true to be reprinted verbatum.

[brooonie]

12:07 AM on 05/17/2011

LOL, yeah, I had a friend once bragging, thinking she was all that because she was descended from Edward II of England. Later I read an article that said that pretty much anyone with any European blood probably is descended from him. So...big deal. :-D

[Flor Arellano]

10:33 PM on 05/16/2011

Wow, that was unexpected. Although, I'm pretty sure he could care less.

[Hard2kill]

10:25 PM on 05/16/2011

Depp should renounce this so-called Royal blood connection... It will only benefit him nothing...

[tkondaks]

08:35 PM on 05/16/2011

20th cousin of Queen Elizabeth?

That's not as close as most people...isn't Obama, like, 16th cousin or something? I think Quinn the Eskimo is 18th cousin...

[django707]

12:38 AM on 05/18/2011

I think most of us are twentieth cousins of Queen Elizabeth.

[letstango]

07:30 PM on 05/16/2011

Don't worry Johnny! You are a class all your own! You're an excellent actor, comedian, and an outright gorgeous singer! Queen Elizabeth invited Lady Gaga to visit her that time and did you see what Lady Gaga wore? The Queen doesn't deserve you if that bunch of snobbery want to be that way.

[wolfiegirl]

07:04 PM on 05/16/2011

SPAM

[wellingtonian]

06:20 PM on 05/16/2011

If this is the case, can I put my vote in to replace the Queen's face with Johnny Depp's on all of the Commonwealth's currency? It's a sure fire way to encourage saving!

[Debbi Mihelic]

06:14 PM on 05/16/2011

He should be happy he wasn't 'outed' before this. After all, if we go back far enough, aren't most of us related? Sick thought.

[Carol McArthur Rumrill]

07:25 PM on 05/16/2011

Doing genealogy - I agree - many of us are related going WAY back. Yeah, it can be a chilling thought.

[libgrrl]

07:54 PM on 05/16/2011

Because there were very few people in the US 200 years ago, many of us born here since share common ancestry - really sick thought

[LiberalLee]

09:52 PM on 05/16/2011

Heeeellooo?
You forgetting about all the immigration through the 19th and 20th centuries?
That volume of input from Europe kind of thins the bloodlines.