'Sherlock' star Benedict Cumberbatch is King Richard III's second cousin, 16 times removed, according to a UK historian.
Professor Kevin Schurer, the University of Leicester historian whose genealogy research helped to confirm the identity of the remains found in the Grey Friars car park as those of King Richard III, has discovered a direct link between the English actor Cumberbatch and the former Plantagenet monarch.
Schurer, who was instrumental in proving the identity of Richard III by tracking down his modern day relatives, has found a link between 38-year-old Cumberbatch and the king - revealing them to be second cousins, 16 times removed.
Oscar-nominated Cumberbatch is best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes alongside Martin Freeman in the hit British television crime drama 'Sherlock'.
"Benedict is Richard III's second cousin, 16 removed. He is linked in several ways, but in terms of number of generations, the shortest is via Richard's mother, Cecily Neville's grandmother Joan Beaufort," Schurer said.
"He also has more in-direct links to both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Jane Grey through other ancestors in his tree," he said.
It has been estimated that between one million and 17 million people in the UK are related in some way related to the former Plantagenet monarch, although not as closely as Cumberbatch.
Cumberbatch will be playing his distant relative in the upcoming BBC series The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, based on William Shakespeare's imagining of Richard III.
Richard III's remains have been reinterred at Leicester Cathedral last week. At the reburial, Cumberbatch read a 14-line poem titled 'Richard' written by British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.
