Many people are related to the royal family if you take into account marriages, but Paddington 2 star Hugh Grant has a close connection to the late monarch. Here’s how the Phoenix Buchanan actor is related to Queen Elizabeth II.
According to the Genealogy website Geni, Hugh Grant’s mother Fyvola Susan Grant was the daughter of Margaret MacLean, whose father was Felton Randolph, whose mother was Frances Randolph. She was the daughter of Lionel Hervey, whose father was Felton Hervey, whose father was The Hon. Felton Hervey.
Now, this is where the aristocracy kicks in as his mother was Elizabeth Hervey, Countless of Bristol, whose mother was Lady Elizabeth Felton, whose mother was Barbara Villiers, whose brother was Sir Edward Villiers, Knight Marshal of the Household. We’ve come as far back as the 17th century and this is where we return down the family tree to the late Queen.
Sir Edward Villiers, Knight Marshal of the Household was the father of Anne Villiers, whose son was Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland, whose son was William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland, whose son was William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland.
He had a son called Lt-Col Lord William Charles Augustus Cavendish-Bentinck, whose son was The Reverend Charles William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck.
Now his daughter was Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countless of Strathmore and Kinghorne, whose daughter Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon would marry the future King George VII, before becoming the Queen Mother for half a century after his death in 1952.
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Of course, their firstborn child would become Queen Elizabeth II. This means that Hugh Grant is the late monarch’s ninth cousin once removed. The Paddington 2 star’s lineage also goes all the way back to King Henry VII aka Henry Tudor and King James IV of Scotland.
Perhaps Paddington 3 could pay tribute to this fact if the actor reprises his BAFTA-nominated role as Phoenix Buchanan. Here’s also hoping that after the sketch this summer, there will be some sort of nod to her late Majesty in the third movie – which is called Paddington In Peru and is set to start filming in 2023.
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