Elle Fanning Is Kate Middleton's Cousin

Elle Fanning (left) and Kate Middleton

Elle Fanning may play Princess Aurora, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty, in Disney'sMaleficent, but off screen, she's a real-life princess. 

The actress is the granddaughter of England's King Edward III and also a cousin of Kate Middleton. 

Historians from Ancestry.com have discovered that Fanning, 16, is the 22nd great-granddaughter of King Edward III, who ruled England for nearly 50 years from 1330 to 1376. He was crowned king at the age of 14 after his father was deposed by his mother. The King was married to Philippa of Hainault. 

Researchers looked through about 700 years' worth of such historical documents as census records, birth and death certificates, baptism and burial records, and found that Fanning and her sister, Dakota, 20, are connected to King Edward III through their mother, Heather Joy Arrington.