Last Tuesday's episode of Who Do You Think Are? (WDYTYA?) series 18 featured actress Dame Judi Dench.
Judi Dench's episode moved from talking about her father's First World War experiences to discussing her mother's illustrious ancestors, both of which were interesting stories, and the movement from one to the other not feeling as awkward as these things often do.
The affecting story of her father's service in World War One is a reminder that, despite ending over a hundred years ago, it has only very recently passed from living memory.
Finding out what her father had been through was clearly very emotional for Judi, which is totally understandable.
Sometimes the most hard-hitting things we find when researching family history are about the people we personally knew and loved.
When the episode moved on to Dench's maternal family, it became clear that not only was she the descendant of Irish nobility, but also of Danish nobility.
What made me laugh was that she seemed quite annoyed no-one had known this before - how dare nobody remember back several centuries?!
It all got a bit Hamlet there for a while - Denmark and Elsinore and lords and ladies of the court.
The coincidence of Hamlet being Judi Dench's debut (as Ophelia) just goes to show that history can be a funny thing sometimes - and repeat itself in the strangest of ways!
A reminder that the very last date to get in touch for Christmas orders from Family History By Cerys is 1st November 2021. More details here.
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