Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk has learnt he is 11th cousins with the King.
The 61-year-old actor was left stunned after discovering his royal links during an appearance on ancestry programme Finding Your Roots – similar to the UK’s Who Do You Think You Are – that traces celebrities’ family trees.
Most known for his role as corrupt yet lovable lawyer Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul, Odenkirk initially seemed reluctant to embrace his blue-blooded history, until he found out about familial links to the King.
Odenkirk’s ancestry was traced back five generations on the PBS show, to his fifth great-grandfather, Friedrich Carl Steinholz, who was the illegitimate son of the Duke of Plon.
It was the German Duke of Plon who was related to the royal families of Europe through marriage.
“I’m an American. I’m not a monarchist. I don’t believe in that,” Odenkirk said when first learning of his royal connections.
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“I feel like it’s a little twisted. I understand why society built itself around monarchs and leaders, and they passed them down through generations… But I think we’ve gotten to a better place with democracy.”
But when he informed about his connection to the King, Odenkirk laughed and said: “Well maybe I’ll change my mind on that… Oh that is crazy!”
Odenkirk was born in Illinois and is the second oldest of seven siblings.
He began his career as a writer on comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live in the 1980s and had a number of smaller acting roles before joining Breaking Bad in 2009.
