Sunday, June 5, 2011

Robert Pattinson and his Royal Connections!


Here are a few ‘what the hell’ (to put it mildly) genealogy discoveries of our time:
Oscar Wilde’s descendant is a computer programmer, Adolf Hitler’s descendants are spread across America and live under assumed names, and according to rumors, they have also been strictly warned by the FBI not to procreate, and Ernest Hemingway’s grandson dropped out of college to make a living as a mason.

If you find these facts surprising then it is time for things to get seriously bizarre.
Robert Pattison is related to Dracula! Yes, the British Actor who has played the role a vampire in three blockbuster Hollywood movies is related to Dracula. For those who’re just out of prison or haven’t been able to keep up with pop culture news for other reasons, Robert Pattison plays the role of a vampire in the movie series ‘True Blood’.

And, if you’re still getting over the fact that Santa doesn’t exist, we have more bad news for you, Dracula, as you and I know him, never existed; except in the imagination of author Bram Stoker who wrote a book around a ‘fictional’ vampire, and called him, Dracula.

In fact, Dracula was not a vampire but a King who lived in the 15th Century. Unfortunately, he has just as bad a reputation as a vampire could have. Vlad III Dracula (yes, that’s his full name) ruled the area of the Balkans and is known to have been an extremely strict moralist. Anyone who transgressed his code of conduct was impaled on the stake. He is said to have thus killed over 40,000 people! In fact, it is this very history that influenced Bram Stoker to name his vicious, vampire character, Dracula.

A while ago, Robert Pattison had joked about how he used to tell people in LA that he knew the Royal Family well. The British actor convinced people enough that they began to spread his lie. Ironically, turns out, that Pattison is related to the British Royal Family. To make the connection, we bring in the experts.

Speaking to People Magazine, Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com, said, "Tracing Pattinson's family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to the Twilight Saga. 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."

Robert Pattison’s joke about ‘knowing’ England’s Royal Family was true after all. To Prince William’s, Harry’s and the rest of the family’s embarrassment, they are all descendants of Vlad Dracula, according to modern genealogy reports. This makes, Pattison, the Princes, William and Harry, distant cousins! Unfortunately, despite the connection, Robert wasn’t invited to the much-talked about Royal wedding.

As most Twilight fans and non-fans, due to the media overkill on the subject, know that Twilight was written by a Mormon Arizona mother and housewife, Stephenie Meyer. Now, genealogy research has shown that she too is related to Vlad Dracula.
Robert Pattison’s latest movie, Water for Elephants. is just out and receiving much acclaim. Interestingly, Pattison’s co-star Reese Witherspoon is the descendant of John Knox  The Divine, the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.

The whole story of Pattison being related to Dracula, along with the author Stephenie Meyer, and the timing of the release of this information – just before the release of the third Twilight movie – make us wonder if this wasn’t just a publicity stunt. Either way, it got us thinking about a whole lot of royal connections.

Here’s to genealogy and more bizarre descendant stories! 

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