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Daily Record
Entertainment
Kirsten McStay & Jamie Roberts

ITV The Chase's Anne Hegerty stunned to discover she's related to Queen Elizabeth II and Robert The Bruce

The Chase's Anne Hegerty was stunned to discover that she is related to royalty after investigating her family history on ITV's DNA Journey on Monday.

The 63-year-old professional quizzer found out she is 19th cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, 95, and King Robert the Bruce was her 20-times great grandfather.

Anne was truly shocked at the news but said that she recalls her grandmother previously telling her but she thought she was telling fibs, writes The Mirror.

Speaking to the show's historian, Anne said: "Wow, that is cool. But my grandmother was the most tremendous liar.

"My aunt said she was a romancer and she'd embroider life a bit, so I always felt that anything from my grandmother had to be taken with a pinch of salt."

The search unveiled that Anne was related to the family bearing the surname Hayes on her mum's side. One of the family members married the King's daughter Princess Elizabeth in 1370.

Anne continued: "My mother was always deeply disapproving of the idea of anyone knowing about their ancestors. She'd say, "It doesn't prove a thing, dear."

"As a child I was always curious about this stuff and my mother was always very repressive.

"I think it was because on my mother's mother's side there's quite a bit of posh, and my mum thought I'd grow up to be a terrible snob.

Anne Hegerty is 19th cousin to the Queen (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

"But I've already grown up to be a terrible snob, so really there's nothing to hide."

And her The Chase co-star Shaun Wallace joked that he would not take to calling her Queen Anne from now on.

Anne, who is known as The Governess on the quiz show, revealed last month that she had to pull out of the new series of Beat The Chasers after contracting Covid.

The former I'm A Celebrity star had to swerve filming for the spin-off series alongside her fellow Chasers Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan, Paul Sinha, Shaun Wallace and Darragh Ennis, and took to Twitter to reveal who would be replacing her.

Viewers of the show will now see Issa Shultz, from the Australian version of The Chase, take her place temporarily.

Anne wrote: "Unfortunately I’ve contracted Covid-19 so won’t be filming this series of #BeatTheChasers.

"The fantastic @Issa25 will be stepping in for me and I’m looking forward to watching the series when it’s on air later this year. I feel fine, but I'm still positive! (in all respects)."

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