
Many stars are treated like royalty by their fans — but a few can actually claim to share royal blood.
If you happen to share one of these famous surnames, you might have a distant link to the British crown yourself. From pop icons to Oscar winners, several big names in Hollywood have surprising ancestral ties to members of the royal family — including King Charles III, the late Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Camilla, Princess Diana, and the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton.
Others, meanwhile, trace their lineage back to historic monarchs such as Richard III, Edward I, and even Robert the Bruce.
Let’s take a look at the most unexpected celebrity–royal connections.
Beyoncé

It seems fitting that “Queen Bey” has a connection to an actual queen. The Grammy-winning superstar is reportedly the 25th cousin once removed of the late Queen Elizabeth II, with both descending from Henry II, who ruled England in the 12th century.
An ancestry site even broke it down in typically wild fashion, explaining that Elizabeth II was “Beyoncé’s stepfather’s wife’s first cousin’s mother’s ex-husband’s ex-wife’s first cousin’s wife’s aunt’s husband’s father’s wife’s nephew’s wife.” Complicated, yes — but technically royal.
Madonna
The Queen of Pop is also, it turns out, distantly connected to royalty. Madonna and Queen Camilla are ninth cousins once removed, both descended from Zacharie Cloutier, one of the founding settlers of Quebec in the 17th century.
Cloutier and his wife Xainte Dupont have thousands of descendants today, including some of the world’s most famous faces. Madonna also counts Pope Leo XIV among her far-reaching family ties.
Celine Dion

If Madonna’s royal link wasn’t surprising enough, Queen Camilla also shares ancestry with another music legend — Celine Dion. Both are related to Jean Guyon, making them distant cousins, reportedly ninth cousins once removed.
Ralph Fiennes
The actor famous for playing both Voldemort and kings on screen has his own regal roots. Ralph Fiennes is the eighth cousin of King Charles III, with their shared lineage tracing back to King James of Scotland, who ascended the throne at just six years old.