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Benedict Cumberbatch is related to Richard III, scientists say Benedict Cumberbatch is related to Richard III, scientists say
(about 1 hour later)
Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is a distant relation of Richard III, scientists believe. Benedict Cumberbatch will be paying tribute to Richard III, his late second cousin 16 times removed, when he reads a poem by the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy at the reburial of the Plantagenet king in Leicester cathedral.
The Oscar-nominated actor, who will take part in the Plantagenet monarch’s reburial on Thursday, is a second cousin of the king, 16 times removed, experts said. Although geneticist Turi King, who extracted Richard’s DNA from the bones found under a car park in August 2012, has said almost everyone is related to the monarch – thought to be between one and 17 million people in the UK alone – Cumberbatch’s kinship is much closer than most.
The link was revealed by Professor Kevin Schurer, who was instrumental in proving the identity of Richard’s remains after they were found under a car park in Leicester. Kevin Schurer, the University of Leicester genealogist, has established Cumberbatch’s link to Richard. He also found that Michael Ibsen and Wendy Duldig are possibly the last direct descendants of Anne of York, Richard’s sister, whose shared mitochondrial DNA helped identify the bones found in Leicester.
Speaking on the eve of the interment ceremony at Leicester Cathedral, he said: “Benedict is Richard III’s second cousin, 16 times 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. He also has more indirect links to both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Jane Grey through other ancestors in his tree. In the tangle of interrelated bloodlines of the Yorkists, Lancastrians and Tudors, Cumberbatch is linked to Richard several times, but the most direct is through Richard’s mother, Cecily Neville, a daughter of one of the richest and most powerful families of the medieval kingdom.
“It is great that Benedict has the opportunity to take part in Thursday’s ceremony for his distant relative. Having him there will add another dimension to what has already been a momentous week for the University of Leicester as well as the city and county.” Schurer said: “In terms of number of generations, the shortest is via Richard’s mother, Cecily Neville’s grandmother Joan Beaufort. He also has more indirect links to both Queen Elizabeth II and Lady Jane Grey through other ancestors in his tree.”
It has been estimated that between one million and 17 million people in the UK are related in some way to the last reigning Plantagenet, although not as closely as Cumberbatch. At the reinterment on Thursday, to be presided over by the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and attended by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Cumberbatch will read “Richard”, a poem commissioned by the cathedral.
The actor, who is to star in a forthcoming BBC television series about the monarch, will read a specially written poem as the king’s coffin is lowered into a tomb specially made of Swaledale stone. Duffy is unable to attend but has visited the cathedral and, 100 yards away, the carpark site of the excavated grave, now enshrined in a stone pavilion in the visitor centre.
University of Leicester geneticist Dr Turi King, who conducted DNA analysis on the bones of Richard III, said: “We are all related to Richard III in some way, it is simply a matter of knowing the genealogy to understand to what degree. The 14-line poem, a meditation on the impact of the finding of Richard’s remains, includes the line “grant me the carving of my name” – fulfilled in the inscription on the coffin made by Richard’s 16th great nephew, Michael Ibsen, and the dark limestone surround of the great block of Swaledale stone which will become his tomb.
“This discovery of Benedict’s link to Richard is very timely as he is playing Richard III and it is great for the city that he is able to come to the re-interment service.” Cumberbatch is to play Richard III in the forthcoming BBC series the Hollow Crown, based on Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses plays.
The Imitation Game star will play his distant relative in the upcoming BBC series The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, based on Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Schurer and King previously worked on the lineage of two other distant relatives of the king, Michael Ibsen and Wendy Duldig.
It was their maternal-line DNA which was used to confirm the identity of the remains. The analysis showed that they are both second cousins to Benedict Cumberbatch, 17 times and 19 times removed, respectively.