The legend of Dracula was inspired by the 15th Century Romanian warlord Vlad the Impaler. Researchers at Ancestry.com recently discovered that Robert Pattinson, the actor who plays the sparkly vampire Edward in the Twilight series, is related to him:
Link via Nerd Bastards | Images from Geek Tyrant, photo of Robert Pattinson originally from Summit Entertainment
Researchers at Ancestry.com discovered that Pattinson and the Transylvanian leader (real name: Vlad III Dracula) are connected through their relationship to the British royal family. Prince William and Prince Harry are Pattinson's distant cousins; Vlad the Impaler was their distant uncle.
"Tracing Pattinson's family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to the Twilight Saga," said Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com. "Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson's life — making his story just as supernatural as the one he's playing on screen."
Link via Nerd Bastards | Images from Geek Tyrant, photo of Robert Pattinson originally from Summit Entertainment
Sigh
FTFY
Now can the locals please burn down Pats house and dispatch him like they did with his great squared geran pappy? PLEASE????
It's marginally more impressive that he's a distant cousin of the princes... but even that includes a very large number of people and the chances are much greater than most people would imagine.
It stands to reason that if you trace back far enough everyone is related in some way or another.
600 years, maybe 22 years per generation = ~27 generations.
2^27 = ~134 million.
So, assuming little to no inbreeding, I am theoretically the direct descendant of 134 million persons living in the early 15th century. Wikipedia lists a population estimate in 1400-1500 around the neighborhood of 450 million. So maybe 1 in 4 persons could be related to Vlad?
With royalty being involved, the inbreeding assumption goes out the window, but it is still obvious to me that anyone of European lineage has a decent chance of being related to Vlad.
This underestimates things doesn't it? You're only tracing a direct maternal/paternal line - i.e. his grandparents and great grandparents etc. The article bases the relationship on cousin relationships too.
When you include cousin relationships - i.e. his aunts/uncles and their spouses and their parental and cousin lines, you need much less than 600 years to be statistically related to everybody on the planet.
So sad, poor Vlad.