Kate Middleton Ancestory: Duchess Kate Is Related To Dakota Fanning

(Image credit: Rex Features (Shutterstock))

published 28 May 2014

Research shows the Duchess of Cambridge may have some very distant (and very famous) American cousins

Kate Middleton certainly has the hair of a Hollywood movie star - but it seems she may also have the genes.

After sifting through 700 years of records, geneology database Ancestry.com has determined that Duchess Kate is a distant relative of Dakota and Elle Fanning.

Their research concluded that 20-year-old Dakota and 16-year-old Elle are descendants of Kind Edward I, an ancestor they share with the Duchess. That shared blood line makes the Fannings and the Middletons distant cousins.

The lineage also shows that Dakota and Elle (who plays Princess Aurora in Maleficent) are descendants of King Edward III, who ruled England from 1327 to 1377. The two American sisters are related to the monarch through their mother, and - if confirmed - that ancestry makes them genuine princesses.

But the Fanning sisters aren't Kate's only famous family members. In 2011, The New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston released a book that delved into her ancestry. Research found that Kate is related to America's founding father George Washington, as well as US comedian Ellen DeGeneres. A pretty impressive family tree we're sure you agree...

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Ali Gray is an award-winning content director and digital strategist. Most recently she was the Director of Branded Content at Hearst, and helped to bridge the gap between the editorial and commercial worlds working across all Hearst brands, including ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Prior to that she worked as an editor contributing to several brands such as The Telegraph, iVillage UK.