Turns out Benedict Cumberbatch has an IRL connection to Sherlock Holmes
LONDON -- Benedict Cumberbatch might be everyone's favourite on-screen Sherlock, but he also has another connection to the world-famous detective. Research conducted by Ancestry.com revealed that Cumberbatch is directly related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Scottish author who created Sherlock Holmes. Cumberbatch and Conan Doyle are 16th cousins, two times removed, the site told Mashable. The pair are related through John of Gaunt -- son of King Edward III -- who was born circa 1340. Researchers found that John of Gaunt is Cumberbatch's 17th great-grandfather and Arthur Conan Doyle’s 15th great-grandfather, making them cousins.
John of Gaunt -- a.k.a. 1st Duke of Lancaster -- was the fourth son of King Edward III of England. His legitimate male heirs include Kings Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI. Arthur Conan Doyle, born in 1859, was a Scottish doctor and writer. What are the chances, eh?
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
