Richard Branson says great-great-great-grandma was from Tamil Nadu

PETALING JAYA: Virgin Group founder Richard Branson (pic) says that he has ancestors who hail from India.

In an Instagram post, Branson revealed that his great-great-great grandmother was Indian.

In an event to celebrate his airline Virgin Atlantic's new route to the city, Branson posted a picture of himself sharing a stage with Anand Mahindra, unveiling that Virgin Atlantic's newest flying icon was named Aria after his great-great-great grandmother.

"Great to be in India to celebrate @virginatlantic's new route to Mumbai and join #AnandMahindra for our Business Is An Adventure event. We also unveiled our newest flying icon, named Aria, after my great great great grandfather's wife, who was Indian," Branson wrote.

According to Yahoo News, Branson said that he took a DNA test some years ago, which revealed that his great-great-great grandmother hailed from Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore.

The Cuddalore district is in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Scholars believe the name Cuddalore is derived from the beach the town is famous for, which means 'sea town' in Tamil.

"I knew that I had past generations living in India, but haven't realised how strong our connections were.

"So, it turned out that from 1793, we had four generations living here in Cuddalore and one of my great-great-great grandmothers was an Indian named Aria, who was married to one of my great-great-great grandfathers," Branson was quoted as saying.

View this post on Instagram

Great to be in India to celebrate @virginatlantic’s new route to Mumbai and join #AnandMahindra for our Business Is An Adventure event. We also unveiled our newest flying icon, named Aria, after my great great great grandfather’s wife who was Indian. #VirginFamily A post shared by Richard Branson (@richardbranson) on Dec 12, 2019 at 5:59am PST

Hmm, now this reminds us of a British comedy sketch, it does: