Anne Hegerty, the star of The Chase, was shocked to discover her royal lineage as part of a new DNA analysis series for ITV.
The chaser, who is known on the series as “The Governess”, featured on Monday’s (4 April) episode of ITV’s DNA Journey.
As revealed in the programme, Hegerty, 63, is in fact a 19th cousin of the Queen.
She was also informed that King Robert the Bruce was her 20-times great grandfather.
A visibly stunned Hegerty told the series’ historian that she had in fact been told as much by her grandmother, but had never believed her.
“Wow,” she said. “That is cool. But my grandmother was the most tremendous liar.
“My aunt said she was a romancer and she’d embroider life a bit, so I always felt that anything from my grandmother had to be taken with a pinch of salt.”
As the programme uncovered, one of Hegerty’s distant ancestors married Princess Elizabeth back in 1370. “As a child I was always curious about this stuff and my mother was always very repressive,” said Hegerty.
“I think it was because on my mother’s mother’s side there’s quite a bit of posh, and my mum thought I’d grow up to be a terrible snob.”
The episode can be streamed now on ITV Hub.
