When his family tree was traced, it was found out that the actor has connection to the bird expert through John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster.
- Nov 10, 2012
AceShowbiz - Turns out Daniel Craig really has a James Bond blood running through his veins. Genealogy website Ancestry.com has retraced the actor's ancestors and found out that he is related to the bird expert James Bond, whose name author Ian Fleming took as the main character of his first novel "Casino Royale".
Unlike in the movies, the real-life Bond is not an international spy. Fleming who is also an avid bird watcher, said in 1962, "When I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard." And thus he used it to create "an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened."
By chance, Craig is related to the late Bond through John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, who is also the son of King Edward III of England. "While we were researching Daniel Craig's family history, we noticed that some of the names and places in his tree resembled names from James Bond's tree. We discovered a fascinating connection between him and the actual bird-watching James Bond through English royalty," says Michelle Ercanbrack, Ancestry.com's family historian.
In fact, Craig is also related to the Queen of England and Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury. "The great thing about family history is you never know what you might find," Ercanbrack added.
Craig stars in the latest James Bond movie, "Skyfall", which is out November 9 in the U.S.
