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American TV star brands monarchies ‘twisted’ before discovering link to British Royal Family-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro
‘I’m not a monarchist. I don’t believe in that.’
![American TV star brands monarchies ‘twisted’ before discovering link to British Royal Family-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SEI_189251200-c7b5.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=854)
Bob Odenkirk has discovered he is related to King Charles (Picture: PBS)
Bob Odenkirk has declared he is not a monarchist before discovering he is related to King Charles.
The Better Call Saul actor, 61, was raised in an area of Chicago, the second oldest of seven siblings born to Walter Odenkirk and Barbara Mary, Catholics of German and Irish descent.
However, he’s now discovered more about his ancestry, but isn’t quite as enamoured with what was uncovered.
Bob, who played Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad from 2008 until 2013 and its spin-off Better Call Saul (2015–2022), appears on the upcoming episode of the genealogy series Finding Your Roots.
In it, he’s surprised to learn that he and King Charles are eleventh cousins.
Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. traces Bob’s roots back five generations to Friedrich Carl Steinholz, the actor’s fifth great grandfather born in Plön, Germany in 1755.
Steinholz’s mother conceived him out of wedlock with the Duke of Plön, who was related to the royal families of Europe due to intermarriage.
Before the revelation, Bob declares: ‘I’m an American. I’m not a monarchist. I don’t believe in that.
‘You know, I feel like it’s a little twisted. I understand why society built itself around monarchs and leaders, and they passed them down through generations. I understand that goes through every society, every civilisation.
‘But I think that we’ve gotten to a better place with democracy and we should keep going down that road,’ he added.
It came after the actor declared he was not a monarchist (Picture: Reuters)
When he is informed of his links to the current king of the United Kingdom, he laughs and says: ‘Well maybe I’ll change my mind on that.’
The host then jokes Bob is ‘trashing’ his family.
‘How they make a living. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You ain’t been royal for more than five minutes!’ he adds.
Last year Bob shared the aftermath of his ‘small heart attack’ that happened on the set of Better Call Saul in 2021.
Bob starred in both Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul (Picture: Greg LewisSony/ AMC/ Netflix/ Kobal/ Shutterstock)
He took time off to recover before returning to the Breaking Bad spin-off off two months later, to complete production on the final series.
Discussing his health, the actor said he thought about what unfolded ‘every day’ but managed to retain his positive energy.
‘Weirdly, it didn’t affect me much for a long time. I had a strange kind of upbeat energy literally the next day, and every day. It was because I had a mind wipe every night,’ he told Yahoo Life.
‘So, my ability to even think about what had happened to me [was compromised] – I needed to hear about it from people who’d been there, and I needed my brain to get back on a normal state.’
Better Call Saul is streaming on Netflix. Finding Your Roots airs on PBS in the United States.
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