Researchers found
Eclipse actor,
Robert Pattinson, 24, who plays vampire
Edward Cullen, is a distant descendant of Vlad the Impaler.
Genealogist Anastasia Tyler discovered
R-Patz is connected to the British Royal Family and a distant cousin of Princes William, 28, and Harry, 25. It means Vlad the Impaler was a distant uncle of the Hollywood hunk.
Anastasia said: “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.
“Tracing Pattinson’s family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unravelled created the perfect accompaniment to the
Twilight Saga.”
According to research by family history website Ancestry.com, the actor is distant cousins with Princes William and Harry on their father’s side – most likely through the Pickering family who lived in Yorkshire in the early 1500s.
Vlad III, who ruled Transylvania in the 15th Century, got his Impaler nickname for the punishments he imposed on his enemies.
He put them on stakes and left them to die.
Writer Bram Stoker, 64, is said to have based his Dracula novel on the ruler.
