6 Things You Didn’t Know about Hannah Waddingham’s Roots
Manx, Music, Military, Moxie and More
What can’t Hannah Waddingham do? I’m late to the party discovering her talents in her portrayal of team owner, Rebecca Welton, in Ted Lasso, but oh, how I wish I had seen her in Spamalot, Into the Woods, or Wizard of Oz. And if I weren’t enchanted enough already, her turn as one of Eurovision 2023’s hosts — seemingly having the time of her life and casually dropping bons mots en français and even the occasional Ukrainian — sealed it.
So it was all but inevitable that I would take a genealogical dive to learn more about the family that has given us Ms. Waddingham, and it didn’t disappoint.
Londoner-Manx Mix
In broad strokes, her father’s family tree has been firmly planted in London for generations, while her mother’s is from the Isle of Man. Dashes of Devon, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, and Oxfordshire make an appearance, along with a smidge (1/32nd) of German (hello, Cologne!) and two other countries I’ll explore shortly, but London and Ellan Vannin get the bulk of the credit. It was her mother’s musical talent that brought her to London linking the two sides — and that leads to my next discovery.
