Johnny Depp is Queen Elizabeth II's 20th cousin

If reports are to believed, then Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has been hailed as a possible distant relative of Queen Elizabeth II.

Ancestry experts said they were able to work a connection, which established the Pirates of the Caribbean star and the current British monarchy as 20th cousins.

The bloodline was not set in stone, though; with genealogists admitting they were relying upon an unreported but widely known marriage in the 1600s between Yorkshireman Richard Denton and Helen Windebank to link the pair.

After delving into the family background of Depp, who was born in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1963, Dr Nick Barratt said he was confident in declaring the actor and the queen as relatives.

One branch of Depp's family tree descended from Sir William Gascoigne and his wife Margaret Percy, who was a direct descendant of King Edward III.

"When I examined Johnny's history I discovered a likely ­connection to the royal family," the Courier Mail quoted Barratt as telling the Sunday Mirror.

"I believe the balance of probability is that there is indeed a link between Depp and the royals," he said, but cautioned, "I doubt we'll ever be able to prove it 100%," added Barratt, a researcher for BBC TV's Who Do You Think You Are?