Turns out I am related to William I... and Will Young

As if Will Young didn't already have reason to be smug, the Pop Idol and two-time Brit award winner now has something else he can boast about - he is related to royalty.

- Mirror man Matt Roper

Specifically, King Edward I, his 20-times great-grandfather. Oh, and William the Conqueror too.

The singer found out about his kingly lineage filming this week's episode of BBC1's Who Do You Think You Are?

And he's not the only celebrity who, besides being blessed with success, can also add royal blood to their claims to fame.

Josh Widdecombe is another, having learned he is also directly descended from Edward I.

Before him there was Danny Dyer, who discovered his ancestors include King Edward III, William the Conqueror and French king Louis IX.

Then there's Matthew Pinsent four-time Olympic gold medallist and, it turns out, also related to Edward I, William the Conqueror and one of Henry VIII's wives.

What is it about being a celebrity, I wondered, that makes you more likely to have royal relatives?

Knowing Will was going to be the latest to fill me with jealousy, I set out to find out if mere mortals like me had any interesting ancestors.

In my case, the chances of even finding anyone slightly aristocratic in my family tree seemed pretty bleak. Will was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, a boarding school boy whose dad was a company director and grandad was an RAF flight lieutenant.

Most of the relatives I knew about, on the other hand, were proud yet poor Nottinghamshire coal miners and their wives.

Still, I set up an account on Find MyPast and added the names of the relatives I knew about over the past 150 years.