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Comedian Josh Widdicombe has learnt he\u2019s a descendent of both English and French royalty during filming for the BBC\u2019s Who Do You Think You Are?<\/a><\/p>\n In the British genealogy documentary series, celebrities trace their family history to find out where they originated from, and in Widdicombe\u2019s episode \u2013 which aired on Tuesday, 12th October \u2013 Josh Widdicombe discovers that he\u2019s related to British royalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n But Widdicombe\u2019s royal roots go back even further, as the 38-year-old later learns he is a direct descendent of French royalty as well.<\/p>\n After finding out about his 14 times great grandmother Mary Boleyn (sister of Anne Boleyn), Widdicombe meets with historian, Dr Owen Emerson, who reveals Josh\u2019s possible relation to King Henry VIII.<\/p>\n \u201cJosh I\u2019d like to introduce you to your 14 times great grandmother \u2013 Mary Boleyn. And she has quite a colourful history. History hasn\u2019t been particularly kind to Mary,\u201d Emerson says as he goes on to detail Mary\u2019s chequered past.<\/p>\n He tells Widdicombe that Mary had a \u201cbad reputation\u201d for being King Henry VIII\u2019s \u201cmistress\u201d, which the king himself revealed.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Henry VIII] was questioned as to whether he\u2019d slept with Mary and her mother Elizabeth Howard and Henry replied, \u2018Never the mother.’\u201d Emmerson adds.<\/p>\n Emmerson explains that during those times kings liked to have affairs with married women, as any offspring couldn\u2019t be \u201cattributed\u201d to the king.<\/p>\n Mary was married to William Carrey at the time, however some historians believe her older daughter Katherine was Henry VIII\u2019s biological child.<\/p>\n Some respected historians therefore believe Widdicombe is a direct descendent of Henry VIII.<\/p> Mary and Henry\u2019s affair isn\u2019t the only love triangle in Widdicombe\u2019s family history, as he also learns his 13 times great grandmother Lettice ended up secretly marrying a man named Robert Dudley, who had previously been wooing Queen Elizabeth I.<\/p>\n When Elizabeth got wind of this, she reportedly \u201cboxed\u201d Lettice round the ear.<\/p>\n \u201cProper EastEnders that,\u201d Widdicombe jokes. \u201cI mean it\u2019s not a surprise that the Queen is angry.\u201d<\/p>\n Widdicombe later discovers he\u2019s also a descendent of French royalty.<\/p>\n Emerson reveals that King Edward I was Josh\u2019s 23rd great grandfather and was married to Marguerite of France \u2013 the daughter of King Phillipe III of France, his 24 times great grandfather.<\/p>\n \u201cMarguerite was the daughter of King Phillipe III of France \u2013 your 24 times great grandfather. So you\u2019re not only directly descended from English royalty, but you have a direct blood line to French royalty as well,\u201d Emerson explains.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a great result for Widdicombe, as he concludes, \u201cSo even if the Henry VIII thing isn\u2019t true I\u2019m still descendent of Henry I!\u201d.<\/p>\n Josh Widdicombe\u2019s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? is available to watch on BBC iPlayer, and the series continues next Tuesday at 9pm. Want something else to watch? Check out our full\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our\u00a0Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0hub for the latest news.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Grace Henry Published: Tuesday, 12 October 2021 at 12:00 am Comedian Josh Widdicombe has learnt he\u2019s a descendent of both English and French royalty during filming for the BBC\u2019s Who Do You Think You Are? In the British genealogy documentary series, celebrities trace their family history to find out where they originated from, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5665,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/josh-widdicombe-discovers-hes-a-descendent-of-both-english-and-french-royalty-on-who-do-you-think-you-are.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Grace Henry Published: Tuesday, 12 October 2021 at 12:00 am Comedian Josh Widdicombe has learnt he\u2019s a descendent of both English and French royalty during filming for the BBC\u2019s Who Do You Think You Are? In the British genealogy documentary series, celebrities trace their family history to find out where they originated from, and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/5664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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