Hilary Duff Crowned "Most Royal" U.S. Star: America's Closest Celeb Relative of the Queen

LOS ANGELES, August 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

You too could have royal blood. Find out with findmypast.com's new app

Hilary Duff, the actress and singer best known as Disney's Lizzie McGuire, is America's "most royal" celebrity, reveals a new study which names her the U.S. star most closely related to Queen Elizabeth II.

Duff heads a table of "American Entertainment Royalty", compiled by the genealogy website, findmypast.com.

As the Queen's 18^th cousin, Duff beats Brooke Shields, the actress, model and Her Majesty's 18^th cousin once removed into second place, followed in third by Maggie and Jake Gyllenhall, the actor siblings and 19^th cousins to the Queen. 

The findmypast.com ranking of the Queen's closest celebrity relatives also includes Paris Hilton, Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Entertainment Royalty: The Queen's 10 Closest Celeb Relatives

1. Hilary Duff: 18^th cousin.
2. Brooke Shields: 18^th cousin, once removed.
3. = Maggie & Jake Gyllenhall: 19^th cousins.
4. Michael Douglas: 19^th cousin, once removed.
5. Ellen Degeneres: 19^th cousin, twice removed.
6. Laura Dern: 19^th cousin, thrice removed.
7. Paris Hilton: 20^th cousin.
8. Uma Thurman: 21^st cousin, once removed.
9. Kyra Sedgwick: 21^st cousin, twice removed.

"These are all folks the Queen should ask to her next family reunion," says Josh Taylor, the findmypast.com genealogist who analyzed the data. "They're all related to her, albeit distantly. We thought it would be fun to calculate who had the closest kinship to the Queen." 

Duff and the Queen can both trace their ancestry to England's King Edward III (died 1377). The Gyllenhalls, Michael Douglas and Ellen Degeneres can do the same, more indirectly.

Angelina Jolie is fractionally "less royal" than her husband, Brad Pitt but both make the findmypast.com rankings. 

"Millions of Americans, of course, are descended from royalty," says Taylor. One historian reckons that most Brits descend from Edward III, which means that many Americans of English descent also share a distant kinship with him.

"So, you too could have royal blood," says Taylor. "In fact, we've just produced a new findmypast.com app to help you work out the odds that you do." It's called "Are You Related to the Queen?" and is on findmypast.com's Facebook page. "It's fun," says Taylor. "And you might be surprised by what you learn."

Contact: Allison PR, Laura Zilverberg, +1-623-201-5556

SOURCE findmypast.com