Is Robert Pattinson really related to Count Dracula?

When you saw Robert Pattinson slip into the role of the striking vampire Edward Cullen in the 'Twilight' saga, did it ever cross your mind that he might have a family connection to the greatest of all vampires?

According to a report by Reuters, citing an expert from genealogy website Ancestry.com, it seems that Pattinson is a distant relative of the Romanian emperor Vlad III, often dubbed Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula.

And who was this Vlad III? He was the real-life figure – prince of Wallachia from 1456 to 1462, born in the city of Sighișoara in Transylvania – who inspired the Irish writer Bram Stoker in 1897 to create one of the most chilling characters ever: Count Dracula.

Vlad's moniker, 'the Impaler,' wasn't just for show. The prince was notoriously brutal in his methods of punishment, with impalement being his favorite. Victims would often be skewered on a sharp stake that was then erected upright in the ground, leaving the impaled person to suffer a slow and agonizing death. It also developed his fearsome relationship across the region.

Image: His castle, in Transylvania, Romania

This intriguing family tie could suggest why Pattinson fit so naturally into the role gifted to him by director Catherine Hardwicke, which gave his career a massive boost.

If this distant family connection seems outlandish, you'll be even more surprised by how the two are supposedly linked.

The researchers behind the 2010 study, which unearthed this relationship between Vlad III and Robert Pattinson, claim that the British royal family is the linchpin connecting them. Things just got a whole lot juicier.

Pattinson's and Dracula's family trees are linked through the British royal family, according to the experts from Ancestry.com.

According to Ancestry.com, the London-born actor is also, on his father's side, a distant cousin of Princes William and Harry, sons of England's King Charles and Lady Di.

A very distant cousin, to be exact, is the link to the royal siblings. It can be traced back to a family that lived in northern England at the start of the 1500s.

“Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson’s life - making his story just as supernatural as the one he is playing on screen,” Ancestry.com's genealogy expert, Anastasia Tyler, told Reuters.

This revelation came just before the premiere of the third installment of 'Twilight', and Tyler said, “Tracing Pattinson’s family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to ‘The Twilight Saga.'"

Even more, according to genealogists, the author of the books on which the three films are based, American Stephenie Meyer, is also a descendant of Dracula. Meyer is a distant cousin of the British princes and, therefore, would also be related to Pattinson, they suggested.

Adding more fuel to the fire, this marks the second time Ancestry.com has stunned everyone by uncovering familial ties between a famous actor and a historical figure closely related to one of their iconic on-screen characters.

Who's the other star in question? It's actress Emma Watson. We all first met her as young witch-in-training Hermione Granger in the 'Harry Potter' series. In 2009, Ancestry.com linked her to a 16th-century woman accused of witchcraft. Coincidence?

Both Watson and Pattinson, British talents shining in Hollywood, continue to excel in their careers. It remains uncertain whether they're aware or indifferent to these eyebrow-raising discoveries courtesy of Ancestry.com.

Pattinson's career skyrocketed with his portrayal of a well-educated teenage vampire in the 'Twilight' series, one who feeds on animal blood, not human, and gets entangled in a love story with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).

He made waves then and continues to do so, following his acclaimed role as the Dark Knight in 'The Batman' (2022) by Matt Reeves. He's gearing up for its second and third sequels, along with other anticipated films like 'Mickey 17,' set for a 2024 release.

But there's more on the horizon. According to industry insider Daniel Richtman, Pattinson is in talks to star in a new Dracula movie directed by the Oscar-winning Chloé Zhao ('The Eternals', 'Nomadland').

This film is rumored to be a futuristic sci-fi take on the beloved character, focusing on the bloodsucker as an outcast from society—a perspective not often explored in Dracula legends.

All this as Lionsgate gears up to reboot the blockbuster 'Twilight' franchise with a TV Show. Whether there's a true family connection or not, one thing is crystal clear: Pattinson likes vampire roles and has a natural knack for nailing them.