Remember that hilarious moment last year when Eastenders actor Danny Dyer found out he was a direct descendant of Edward III on the BBC television programme Who Do You Think You Are, much to the internet's hilarity?

Well, while the Cockney star's excitable reaction and admission he would celebrate his family's new by buying a 'massive ruff' (the frill worn round the neck of a Elizabethan and Jacobean costume), you'll be happy to know Dyer isn't the only one with a link to the throne.

Because, so do you.

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Last night, Dr Adam Rutherford, a geneticist who presents the Radio 4 programme Inside Science, revealed his calculations have found that almost every Briton is related to the 14th century king, Edward III.

Rutherford told an audience at the Chalke Farm History Festival that his team has figured out that the chance someone born in the 1970s isn't related to Edward III is as small as 0.0000000000000000000000000001. After all, those decimal points matter, a lot.

With his colleagues at University College London, Rutherford's study on our relation to the 14th century king worked on the idea that you have two parents, who also had two parents, and so on, therefore you can work backwards to form an ever expanding family tree.

As a result, everyone living in Europe in the 10th century was somehow related to everyone who now lives on the same continent, according to the Daily Mail.

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Having watched Dyer's hilarious revelation, Rutherford said: 'I was sitting there, thinking 'I think I can. I think I can compute this'. I worked with some of my colleages at UCL, and the question became what is the probability that anyone is directly descended from Edward III?'

'Looking around this room, every single one of you is a direct descendant of Edward III.

'Everyone from this room is directly descended between 21 and 24 generations from Edward III,' he added.

Speaking of the hit BBC show Who Do You Think You Are, which helps celebrities trace their ancestry, the geneticist warns viewers not to be duped into thinking lineages to the royal family are rare.

'When you do family trees and in things like Who Do You Think You Are? and any form of genealogy, the real key comes in managing to to identify someone of fame or infamy in your family tree.

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'And the reason I quip that story is because this is fundamentally not how genetics works.

'Literally every person in Europe is directly descended from Charlemagne. Literally, not metaphorically. You have a direct lineage which leads to Charlemagne,' he added.

The news might disappoint Sir Richard Branson, who appeared on the US version of the show last year and boasted of the 'extraordinary family fact' that he was related to Charlemagne, who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814.

The big question remains – does the fact we're now related to Edward III have any effect on the off chance Prince Harry might break up with Meghan Markle and propose to us?

Because if it does, we'd rather not know, thanks.

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Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.