star discovered his family were marmalade magnates but the millions didn’t filter down the generations during an appearance on the show Who Do You Think you Are? in 2010.
He also learned of a huge family tragedy when his great great grandfather drowned at sea returning to England from New Zealand.
The green fingered star learned that through his paternal grandmother, he was part of the famous Keiller marmalade dynasty from Dundee.
They produced what is believed to be the first commercial marmalade and invented the chip formulation that is still hugely popular today.
Their enterprise made them hugely wealthy and his great-grandfather William owned a quarter of what was once the largest confectioners in the UK but the vast fortune didn’t filter down to Monty’s family.
He ran the family’s operations in the Channel Islands, where the firm could avoid mainland sugar taxes and retired a wealthy man, to Wandsworth, London.
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Monty Don’s family made a fortune from marmalade but the money wasn’t passed down (Image: Getty)
Correspondence seen by Monty on the show suggested William, who left the firm when his position became untenable, had a strained relationship with his brother and later his nephew, who eventually took over the company.
It appears a family feud is the reason the millions didn’t make their way to Monty’s branch of the family.
Despite this he admitted on the show: “We were very comfortably off. Everything was in its appropriate place, and had always been so.”
Meanwhile on his mothers side of the family he uncovered a huge tragedy involving his great great grandfather.
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Monty Don delved into his ancestry on Who Do you Think You Are in 2010 (Image: BBC)
The same archive holds a letter from 1857, where Charles complains about an “exiled and impoverished” life in New Zealand.
It transpired that in 1850, Charles’s wife, Ann, emigrated on her own – a highly unusual move in this era, especially as she left behind her children.
Charles eventually joined Ann, along with four of their children. However, in 1859, he was returing to England aboard the Royal Charter.
Just off Anglesey, the ship was caught in what was seemingly the worst storm to hit Britain in the 19th century. She was wrecked and Charles was among more than 450 souls who perished, reportedly while leading a prayer.