Hilary Duff Crowned "Most Royal" U.S. Star: America's Closest Celeb Relative of the Queen

Hilary Duff Crowned "Most Royal" U.S. Star: America's Closest Celeb Relative of the Queen

She beats Brooke Shields, Paris Hilton, Beyoncé, as findmypast.com ranks Queen's closest celebrity kin

LOS ANGELES, August 27, 2012/PRNewswire/ --

You too could have royal blood. Find out with findmypast.com's new app



Hilary Duff, the actress and singer best known as Disney's Lizzie McGuire, is
America's "most royal" celebrity, reveals a new study which names her the U.S. star most
closely related to Queen Elizabeth II.



Duff heads a table of "American Entertainment Royalty", compiled by the genealogy
website, findmypast.com [http://Findmypast.com ].



As the Queen's 18th cousin, Duff beats Brooke Shields, the actress, model and Her
Majesty's 18th cousin once removed into second place, followed in third by Maggie and Jake
Gyllenhall, the actor siblings and 19th cousins to the Queen.



The findmypast.com [http://Findmypast.com ] ranking of the Queen's closest celebrity
relatives also includes Paris Hilton, Beyonce, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.



Entertainment Royalty: The Queen's 10 Closest Celeb Relatives




1) Hilary Duff: 18th cousin.
2) Brooke Shields: 18th cousin, once removed.
3) = Maggie & Jake Gyllenhall: 19th cousins.
4) Michael Douglas: 19th cousin, once removed.
5) Ellen Degeneres: 19th cousin, twice removed.
6) Laura Dern: 19th cousin, thrice removed.
7) Paris Hilton: 20th cousin.
8) Uma Thurman: 21st cousin, once removed.
9) Kyra Sedgwick: 21st cousin, twice removed.




"These are all folks the Queen should ask to her next family reunion," says Josh
Taylor, the findmypast.com genealogist who analyzed the data. "They're all related to her,
albeit distantly. We thought it would be fun to calculate who had the closest kinship to
the Queen."



Duff and the Queen can both trace their ancestry to England's King Edward III (died
1377). The Gyllenhalls, Michael Douglas and Ellen Degeneres can do the same, more
indirectly.



Angelina Jolie is fractionally "less royal" than her husband, Brad Pitt but both make
the findmypast.com rankings.



"Millions of Americans, of course, are descended from royalty," says Taylor. One
historian reckons that most Brits descend from Edward III, which means that many Americans
of English descent also share a distant kinship with him.



"So, you too could have royal blood," says Taylor. "In fact, we've just produced a new
findmypast.com [http://Findmypast.com ] app to help you work out the odds that you do."
It's called "Are You Related to the Queen?
[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Findmypast-US/302628856454633 ]" and is on findmypast.com's
Facebook page [http://www.facebook.com/pages/Findmypast-US/302628856454633 ]. "It's fun,"
says Taylor. "And you might be surprised by what you learn."



Contact: Allison PR, Laura Zilverberg, +1-623-201-5556





Source: findmypast.com




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