Entertainment

Benedict Is Actually Playing His Royal Cousin

New year, new Benedict Cumberbatch. Well, maybe he isn't a completely new person, but he did just learn that he is related to royalty. According to the Telegraph UK, it has been discovered by a genealogist that Cumberbatch and King Richard III are cousins, which is kind of perfect because Cumberbatch will be portraying Richard on the BBC Two series The Hollow Crown: King Richard III.

The genealogist has discovered that Cumberbatch and King Richard III are third cousins, 16 times removed. In layman's terms: Cumberbatch is three cousins away from King Richard III, and then 16 generations separated. The only non-special thing about this news is that it is estimated that there are about one to 17 million people in the UK that are related to King Richard III, but that is completely besides the point. The genealogist traced the origins from Edward III, Richard III's great great grandfather.

BBC Two has created a miniseries that highlights many historic characters. The Richard III segment is adapted from the William Shakespeare play by the same name. This news come only a couple of months after it was suggested that Cumberbatch was possibly related to Alan Turing, the man who cracked the Enigma code in World War Two, and also Cumberbatch's character in The Imitation Game.

Images: BBC Two