It was when the EastEnders actor visited a descendant of his ancestor that he learned of his connection to King Henry VIII’s right-hand man. “I can’t believe it, I don’t know what to say,” Dyer said as he left the estate.
Danny was particularly delighted to hear that Cromwell’s father ran a tavern.
‘People are going to expect me to be related to criminals,” he said at the top of the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, the BBC’s celebrity genealogy show. “But I’d like to freak them out and be descended from aristocracy.”
“I’ll say it again – ‘I am a direct descendent of Thomas Cromwell.’”