Bob Odenkirk Shocked to Learn He's Related to King Charles III
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Originally appeared on E! Online
Bob Odenkirk better call Buckingham Palace—because he's related to King Charles III.
The Breaking Bad alum learned of his hidden family ties to His Majesty after declaring that he doesn't believe in a monarchy. In a preview of the Jan. 30 episode of PBS' Finding Your Roots, Bob proclaimed to host Henry Louis Gates Jr.: "I'm an American. I'm not a monarchist."
"You know, I feel like it's a little twisted," the 61-year-old continued. "I understand why society built itself around monarchs and leaders, and they passed them down through generations. I understand that goes through every society, every civilization. But I think that we've gotten to a better place with democracy and we should keep going down that road."
In an ironic twist of fate, Bob then found out that he and Charles are actually 11th cousins. As it turned out, his fifth great-grandfather Friedrich Carl Steinholz was the son of the Duke of Plön, who had ties to other royal families of Europe through intermarriage.
King Charles III's Road to the Throne
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So, did the Better Call Saul star warm up to idea of monarchy after his newly-discovered relations to a reigning king? "Well, maybe I'll change my mind on that," he said with a laugh. "Oh, that is crazy!"
Charles' late father Prince Philip was born into Greek and Danish royalty, while his mother Queen Elizabeth II—whose throne he succeeded upon her death in September 2022 at age 96—descended from a long line of British royals.
But Bob is not the only comedian with blood ties to royalty. Bill Hader, who he worked with in the 2007 comedy The Brothers Solomon, discovered on a previous episode of Finding Your Roots that he's related to both King Edward I of England and Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor.
"I'm just blown away," the Barry actor said of the revelation. "The conqueror of Europe? My gosh, I couldn't even get the coffeemaker to work this morning."
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