Royal Family fans have been shocked to learn that King Charles III and the late Queen Elizabeth II can both trace their heritage back to Dracula, and people are all making the same joke

People have only just realised that King Charles III is related to the real-life Dracula.

Both Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth II can trace their lineage back to Vlad the Impaler (Vlad III), a 15th century Romanian prince whose fondness for impaling enemies on stakes earned him his grisly nickname.

Vlad III was also known as Vlad Dracula as he was the second illegitimate son of Vlad II Dracul. ‘Dracul’ means ‘the Dragon’, and Vlad II earned this moniker for his membership of the Order of the Dragon. ‘Dracula’ means the ‘son of Dracul’.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published in 1897, is alleged to have been inspired by Vlad III. In reality, historians believe Stoker just took the name and instead drew more on the blood-sucking vampires of Romanian folklore.

According to Romania Tour Store, Charles is the great-grandson 16 times removed of Vlad III, through the consort of George V, Queen Mary. Charles himself has spoken about the link before and visited the Carpathian Mountains in Romania for a TV show in 2011. He also bought and restored a farmhouse in Transylvania in 2006.

Charles has done charity work in the region and said he has a “bit of a stake in the country” due to his familial link. In 2017, the mayor of the city of Alba Iulia said they invited Charles to accept the honorary title of Prince of Transylvania.

A recent post on X/Twitter about the link between Charles and Vlad has racked up 70,000 likes, with many Royal Family fans saying they had no idea.

Other people all made the same joke, linking the news to the official portrait of Charles that was unveiled in May. One said: “The bloody horses running wild in London and the fires of war painting make so much more sense now.”