Coronation Street star Rula Lenska discovered more about her royal heritage through the ITV show DNA Journeys.
DNA Journey returned tonight which sees celebrity friends discover more about their family heritage. Coronation Street stars Rula Lenska and Maureen Lipman joined the show to find out where exactly they came from.
As Maureen travelled to Hull in search of her family's history, she discovered she is a descendant of immigrants. Her great, great, great grandparents came to Britain from Poland.
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A surprise coincidence, Poland is where Rula's family is originally from. Her family was of Polish royalty centuries ago and Rula herself is classed as a Countess still today. Both Rula and Maureen found it interesting that despite their somewhat fresh friendship, they have somewhat of a long-standing common history.
Rula discovered her grandmother was a vital part in helping the Jewish community flee Europe and was known as somewhat of a freedom fighter. She helped not only evacuate Warsaw ghettos but also fed and homed multiple Jewish people who had nothing.
Rula said she knew of her family's royal heritage but was astounded at their underground freedom fighting background. Taken back by her family's deeds, she said: "I'm really proud of her. How sad is it that I wasn't old enough to appreciate you and what you've done."
Following on from the show, Maureen admitted she was reluctant to film, saying she doesn't like "weeping documentaries." She said: "I didn’t really want to do it because I’m prejudiced against what I call weeping documentaries. And also because I knew that Rula was a Countess, whereas I was from some dismal shtetl. As it happened, it turned out to be one of the nicest things I’ve ever done."
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