5. Brooke Shields

Brooke Shields is a well-known actress but she had no idea that her past ancestors were even more famous than she! Shields is the descendent of King Henry IV of France who ruled from 1589 to 1610.

Henry IV of France was not especially liked during his reign but he was remembered well by historians who suggest that he was a kind man with compassion. Even so, he was assassinated by a Catholic in 1610.

Henry had granted religious freedoms to the Protestants in his kingdom which angered many Catholics. In fact, there were many assassination attempts on the king prior to the one that killed him.

Shields was quite surprised to find out about her illustrious connections. It appears that she may also be connected to Catherine de Medici and even Lucrezia Borgia. No stranger to controversy herself for her early appearances on covers of magazines like Playboy, Shields appears to have ancestors that also knew how to stir things up.

Shields was quite emotional about these newly discovered connections that completely took her by surprise. In fact, researchers were also quite shocked to unravel the intricacies of her background too! So Shields takes her place among many other Hollywood celebs with royal connections.