Bob Odenkirk Is Related To The Royal Family

Bob Odenkirk isn't a Nobody -- he's a distantly related member of the British royal family! The Breaking Bad alum appeared on PBS’ Finding Your Roots this week. He learned that he has familial links to King Charles III. Researchers looking into his family history revealed Odenkirk and Charles are 11th cousins. They also found that his fifth great-grandfather, Friedrich Carl Steinholz, was the son of the Duke of Plön, who was linked to other royal families of Europe through marriage.

The stunning discovery came after the 61-year-old Illinois native revealed he doesn’t believe in a monarchy. "I’m an American. I’m not a monarchist," Odenkirk said of the revelation in a clip shared by Rolling Stone ahead of the Tuesday night (January 30) episode release. Adding to his thoughts about how the monarchy is run in England, Odenkirk feels it's "a little twisted." Though he understands why society built itself around monarchs and leaders, "I think that we've gotten to a better place with democracy, and we should keep going down that road."

In a video clip posted by Ancestry.com, it was also revealed that Bob's fourth great-grandfather, Jean Jacques Fricker, served in Napoleon's army as a teenager. Odenkirk is the second oldest of seven siblings. His parents were of German and Irish descent, and his father, Walter Henry Odenkirk, was in the printing business. Bob's parents divorced in part due to Walter's alcoholism, which influenced Bob's decision to avoid alcohol as much as possible. He described his father as "remote, f---ed-up, and not around." Watch the segment below:

English actor Danny Dyer appeared on the British version of Finding Your Roots on a show called Who Do You Think You Are? in 2016 and discovered he was related to Thomas Cromwell, King Edward III, William the Conqueror, and King Henry III. Odenkirk's episode of Finding Your Roots airs on January 30 at 8 p.m. on PBS.