Will Young jokes he’s a ‘future despot’ after discovering he’s related to royalty

It’s not every day you discover that you’re descended from British royalty, but that’s exactly what Will Young is.

The “Evergreen” singer appeared on Tuesday’s (3 June) episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? – and it was nothing short of revelatory for the 46-year-old Pop Idol winner.

As well as learning more about his more recent ancestors, Young also learned something about his relatives from 20 generations back, and it turns out he’s a relative of England’s Kind Edward I.

During the show, Young was shown a family tree tracing his family back to the king that lived from 1239–1307.

At first Young finds the news hard to believe, insisting to the show’s historians “you’ve made it up haven’t you.” Young uttered, “that’s unbelievable.”

He then added, “This is just amazing, I can’t believe it. It’s wonderful.”

After the news sunk in the “Leave Right Now” singer reflected on how he’d change going forward.

“Being related to a king, will it change my behaviour?” he posited, before joking: “I mean, the short answer is yes. Yes, it will. What you are beholding is essentially a future despot.”

Young also found out during the programme that his grandfather, RAF pilot Digby Young, who died before he was born, was a prisoner of war during the Second World War.

He showed off a new tattoo of a bomber plane he got to pay tribute to his grandfather.

Young recently shared ideas for a career change. Speaking to Metro, the two-time Brit Award winner revealed his potential plan.

“If I don’t end up fostering, I’ve been looking into training to become a school counsellor,” he said.

“I think there’s a huge need for school counsellors, and so I will definitely be in some sort of way aiding, helping and guiding younger people, because I’m of that age now.”