LESLEY Manville was left moved to tears after uncovering her complex family history on Who Do You Think You Are?
The Oscar-nominated actress was seen emotional and teary-eyed after discovering a sweet revelation about her grandfather on the BBC show.
On the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, Lesley – who has starred in Sherwood, The Crown and other TV hits – unravelled her surprising family history with the help of social historian Claire Langhamer.
While looking at her grandfather James's will, and other historical documents, Lesley discovered that her image of him had been misconstrued her whole life.
She revealed that she had thought her grandfather was an unpleasant man, but throughout the episode, her mind changed.
She sat down with the historian and explained: "So what I found out this morning was that my maternal grandfather, James, was married to a lady called Mabel,
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"And I had no idea that he and Mabel had children because my mother certainly never talked about it."
While going down memory lane, it was revealed that Lesley's grandfather was absent from the electoral register because he was at war.
A little while later, Claire gave The Crown star another document which contained more information on her family lineage.
After observing the document, Lesley said: " Oh my goodness, Mabel has had a child with Frederick, who's the lodger!
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"Well, let's not forget there was a war, and war must make people have some sense of abandonment, you don't know if you're going to live the night, you seize a moment of romance, passion…
"Because your husband might never come back, you might die tomorrow."
It was then brought to her attention that this was when her grandfather met her maternal grandmother, Harriet.
Her grandparents were a working-class couple in the 1900s and couldn't afford a divorce, so they lived together while still technically married to their first spouse.
The following document given to the actress was a heart-warming will from her grandfather.
Aloud Lesley said: "I give devise and bequeath everything of which I shall die possessed to my friend…"
Lesley paused as her eyes swelled up and she continued: "Harriet."
"The word 'sweet' doesn't do it, does it? It's very sweet. I mean what more would you want from a partner in life than for them to say that you're their friend?"
She wiped away her tears and said: "It's sort of demystified a lot of really based-on-nothing opinions I had about Grandad.
"Because my mother just used to say, 'Oh, he was very strict,' and I have this image of this rather austere man who was a bit impenetrable and a bit cold, I suppose.
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"But clearly… I want to come to the conclusion that Harriet was his big love and his friend, that's just absolutely wonderful."
Episodes of Who do You Think You Are? are on BBCiPlayer
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