"This is no joke" Hape Kerkeling is a great-grandson of King Edward of England
He has done some genealogical research: Hape Kerkeling claims to be a relative of Britain's King Edward - and that's because his grandmother is an "illegitimate" child of the monarch.
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- Hape Kerkeling has discovered that, according to his own research, he is a great-grandson of King Edward VII, which he found out with the help of a DNA test and further research.
- A letter from his grandmother's place of origin in Bohemia confirmed her illegitimate connection to Edward VII, which surprised Kerkeling as she had never told him this.
- He describes his discoveries about his royal ancestry and his childhood in his new book, which will be published on September 25.
Hape Kerkeling carried out genealogical research and, according to his own statements, discovered that he is a great-grandson of the English King Edward VII (1841-1910). "It's funny, but not a joke," Kerkeling told Die Zeit.
He had used the coronavirus pandemic to first take a DNA test. Because it turned out that he has Dutch, British, Polish and Italian relatives, this aroused his curiosity.
He also received a letter from the Bohemian town where his grandmother came from. In it, a lady told him that his grandmother was a daughter of the English King Edward VII. Her birth certificate stated "illegitimate".
Ancestors traced back to the 17th century
When he then found further evidence of her royal lineage, he was irritated that his grandmother had kept this from him. After all, they were soul mates. Kerkeling grew up in Recklinghausen with his grandmother after the early death of his mother.
He has written a book about his discoveries ("Give me some time"). It will be published on September 25. In it, Kerkeling talks about his childhood in the 70s, among other things. His publisher Piper had already announced that he would be following in the footsteps of his ancestors back to the flourishing Amsterdam of the 17th century and had "discovered an incredible secret" about his beloved grandmother Bertha.
