ITV Morse star Kevin Whately's family left behind eye-watering fortune in will

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Self confessed "leftie" Kevin Whately got a shock when he discovered he came from a long line of "capitalists" during an appearance on the BBC geneaology show Who Do You Think you Are in 2009.

The Inspector Morse and Lewis star, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours list discovered that his ancestors were among the richest and most powerful men of the 17th century.

Admitting at the beginning of the show: “It’s pathetic how little I know,” by the conclusion he said it was a "huge relief" not to have inherited anything from his "capitalist" ancestors.

“It’s a surreal feeling to know you’re connected to these people. I’m a country boy from the North Tyne Valley and I always will be.

“I considered myself a leftie, then I found capitalists everywhere. Thankfully, none of the money which was made during that time came down to me, which was a huge relief," he said on the show.

Kevin Whately has some very affluent and high profile ancestors (Image: Getty)

Kevin is best known for playing working class Geordies such as Neville Hope in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Inspector Morse’s sidekick, Lewis. However his illustrious family history is a million miles from that.

His maternal grandmother Doris’s father, Frederick, Kevin's great grandfather, was a food entrepreneur.

He started out with a single fish shop, and capitalised on a boom in herring to build up a thriving business. He left the equivalent of £2 million in today’s money in his will.

On his father's side his great, great, great grandfather Thomas Whately had been apprenticed to the Levant Company, which traded in Turkey, Syria and Palestine. His success was such that in the middle of the 18th century he became a director of the Bank of England.

Kevin Whately, pictured here in the 1990s, often plays working class Geordie men (Image: Getty)

It is through Thomas wife Mary Thompson, Kevin's great, great, great grandmother that the family have links to the slave trade. Mary was descended from Robert Thompson, one of four puritan brothers who rose to prominence during the Commonwealth in the 17th century, when England was briefly a republic.

They made their money in America. Robert's brother Maurice, shared a monopoly on the lucrative tobacco trade from Virginia in 1632 . They were also heavily involved in the slave trade.

Nonsuch Mansion, a stately home in Sutton, was built partly on the proceeds of his family's slave trading although it has not been handed down much to Kevin's relief.

"I think if I was sitting in a stately home somewhere because of the money my ancestors made, I’d be feeling very uneasy,” he said on the show after learning where the money came from.