Finding Your Roots on PBS show, hosted by the famous Henry Louis Gates Jr., digs deep into the pasts of famous people to find family secrets and surprising links. In its tenth season, Finding Your Roots continues to unravel the family trees of famous people, giving fans a look into the surprising and varied backgrounds of their favorite stars. Now this time Bob Odenkirkfamily roots come to light. As the star of Finding Your Roots, Bob Odenkirk, research into his family history revealed a story as interesting as any script he has read and brought to life on screen. does Bob Odenkirk have a family connection to King Charles III?
Is Actor Bob Odenkirk Related to King Charles III?
Bob Odenkirk, who is known for his parts in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, recently had an awakening that went beyond the glamour of Hollywood. Even though Odenkirk was born and raised in Illinois, he thought his roots were in Ireland and Germany. But the experienced genealogists on Finding Your Roots found a secret link to France that shocked the actor. Francois Xavier Fricker was a French builder who was born in 1820. He was Odenkirk’s great-great-grandfather through his mother Barbara’s side of the family. Odenkirk was greatly moved by the touching story of Francois, his wife, and their five children moving to America in 1854 after selling everything they owned.
To show his appreciation for what his ancestors did, Odenkirk thought about the good things in his life, like his successful job and the important people in his life. This new information made Odenkirk’s identity more complicated by adding his French background to the story of his family history.
That wasn’t the last surprise. As the genealogical trip went on, Odenkirk came across a revelation that seemed out of the ordinary. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the host of the show, found a link between Odenkirk and King Charles III’s royal family by following his family tree back five generations.
Friedrich Carl Steinholz, Odenkirk’s fifth great-grandfather, was born in Plon, Germany, in 1755. He became the most important person when it came to connecting the actor to royalty. Steinholz’s mother had an unusual pregnancy and gave birth to a child without being married to the Duke of Plon. This created a royal link in Odenkirk’s family tree that linked it to the European monarchs.
Is Bob Odenkirk a Cousin of King Charles III?
When it was first claimed that Odenkirk was King Charles III’s 11th cousin, there was some doubt. As a self-described non-monarchist, Odenkirk had said that he thought democracy was better than the old idea of royalty. The news, however, led to a funny conversation between Gates and Odenkirk. The actor joked that he might change his mind and said, “Well maybe I’ll change my mind on that.”
This surprising connection to royalty added a bit of humor to Odenkirk’s family story and made him question what he thought he knew about his family tree. By putting together a Hollywood actor with ties to a current monarch, the plot seemed like it came straight from a script, making it hard to tell the difference between fact and fiction.
With its skilled genealogists and thorough study, Finding Your Roots continues to be an interesting trip into the past for both celebrities and viewers. When we walk in the steps of these famous people, it reminds us that our ancestors’ stories are not just stories from the past; they are also important parts of who we are now.
Finding out that Bob Odenkirk is French and has royal ancestry is a great example of how rich human history is and how surprising it can be to find out things about our family trees. This season of Finding Your Roots will continue to look into the family trees of other famous people. Viewers can expect more surprises that span time and connect the different lines of human history.