Vlad the Impaler: Prince Charles a descendant of Dracula?
Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula, is an ancestor of Prince Charles. No this isn't a Halloween trick.
Vlad the Impaler: Britain's Prince Charles seen at the opening of a new Start-Up Shop in The Mall in Middlesbrough, England, Monday. The Prince of Wales has stated that he is a descendant of Vlad the Impaler, commonly known as Dracula.
Scott Heppell/AP
The truth is out: Prince Charles is related to Vlad the Impaler.
The heir to the British throne says he is related to Vlad the Impaler, the cruel 15th-Century Romanian warlord who helped inspire Bram Stoker's 1897 vampire novel "Dracula."
He makes the comments on an upcoming TV show to promote his interest in protecting the forests of Romania's Transylvania region.
Charles says genealogy shows that he is related to Vlad, giving him a stake in the future of Romania. The prince has long worked to conserve the forests and has bought a home in the region.
On a visit to Romania earlier this year, he called Transylvania a national treasure because of its unspoiled landscape and centuries-old rural farming traditions.