She is the all-American pop princess with a millionaire lifestyle and a global property portfolio.
But Britney's talent has it's roots in wartime Britain, when her English grandmother danced the jitterbug at the Royal Opera House before falling in love with an American GI.
And as these exclusive photos show Britney bears more than a passing resemblance to her grandmother, Lilian.
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Family album: Britney Spears at the MTV awards last week, and her British grandmother, Lilian, who came from Tottenham
The troubled singer’s great grandfather George Anthony Portell was the son of a Portsmouth newsagent, who joined the Royal Navy in his teens.
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Her great grandmother Lilian was born in the East End before moving to Tottenham where the couple met a local dance. They married a year later in St John’s Parish Church in a joint ceremony with her sister Ruth and her beau Richard Harvey.
They had two daughters - Miss Spear’s grandmother also called Lilian in 1924, and then Joan in 1927.
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Britney Spear's Grandmother Lillian with her American husband Barnet on their wedding day in 1923
Now aged 80 and called Joan Woolmore, Britney's great-aunt lives in a small terraced house in Northolt, west London
She told the Daily Mail: 'We came from very humble beginnings but we were very happy. We didn’t have a great deal and we moved around a lot around London – but what both Lilian and I loved to do was dance and play music.
'My father saved up to send us both for dance classes and piano lessons. He really was a wonderful man. He was kind, gentle and worked very hard. My mother was much stricter but she suffered badly from asthma so spent a lot of time in hospital when we were growing up.'
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Britney's ancestors: The star's great-grandmother Lillian and great-grandfather George Portell on their wedding day
The girls’ passion for music was also encouraged by their aunt and uncle Mary and Desmond Worthy, who played piano and drums for bands in the 1930s.
Miss Woolmore said: 'Lilian and I liked dancing. During the war we used to go dancing in Covent Garden where they had turned the Royal Opera House into a dance hall. We could jitterbug with the best of them.'
She dismissed reports that her parents had been ‘living in sin’ before they were married, insisting that they had put the same residence of Tewkesbury Road in Tottenham on the marriage licence because Mr Portell was in the Navy and had no fixed address.
Joan became a cook working for the Royal Navy at HMs Ganges during the Second World War, while Lilian became a typist with the Law Stationary Office. Lilian went on to marry US soldier Barnett O'Field Bridges in London during in March 1945.
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Happy family: Britney Spears' great-grandfather George Portell with his wife Lillian and daughter Joan
The couple moved to Amercia and settled Louisianna, where they had three children, including Britney’s mother Lynne. Lynne came to England to study teaching at Reading University in the early seventies and stayed with Miss Woolmore and her husband Archie.
Britney Spears' great aunt Joan Woolmore at her home in West London
She returned to America and married construction business boss Jamie Spears in 1975, and also had three children, Britney, Bryan and Jamie-Lynn.
Miss Woolmore, who visited the Spears family in 1991, explained that she had no recent contact with the pop star but admitted she was sad to hear about her recent problems.
She said: 'She had a lot of talent you could see that even when she was little. She always wanted to be the centre of attention, always dancing or singing. She did remind me of my sister Lilian – she was a real beauty as well.'
'I was surprised when she became a huge star all over the world but she was pushed into it. Lynne was very ambitious for her. These latest problems – it is very sad. I really hope that is all behind her now.'
Miss Spears made a triumphant return at the MTV Video Music Awards last week, but for the past three years her life has spiraled out of control.
The 26-year-old has had two failed marriages and lost custody of her children, and battled drug addictions that led to her being taken in to psychiatric care.
Miss Woolmore said that Miss Spears had never visited her family in England.
The Spears family: Jamie Lynn Spears and her newborn daughter, Maddie Briann, Jamie Lynn and Britney this week
Details of the controversial artist's ancestry will be available to the public by 2009, as part of a groundbreaking project to place the records of more than 77 million people online.
A spokesman for the venture, which is run by the London Metropolitan Archives and Ancestry.co.uk, said: 'The records of millions upon millions of people from all walks of life dating back more than 500 years will be accessible at the click of a mouse by early next year.'
The online archive will include registers detailing baptisms, marriages and burials from more than 10,000 churches.
Poor law documents, listing the inhabitants of workhouses, will also be included along with London school admissions and lists of convicts imported to the colonies.
It is hoped that the database will further help those trying to trace their heritage.
Genealogy has become increasingly popular in recent years as more and more information is placed online.
Britney's family tree
Britney Jean SPEARS, b. McComb Co., Miss., 2 Dec. 1981
Married to Jason Alexander in 2004. Annulled.
Married to Kevin Federline in 2004. Divorced 2007.
Children: Sean Preston, b. 2005 and Jayden James, b. 2006
Parents
James Parnall SPEARS, b. ... 1952
Married 1975
Lynn Irene BRIDGES, b. ... 1956
Grandparents
June Austin SPEARS, b. ... 1930
Married – date not known.
Emma Jean FORBES, b. 1934, deceased
Barney O'Field BRIDGES, b. 1919, deceased
Married 1945
Lilian Irene PORTELL, b. 1924, deceased
Great-grandparents
June Becker SPEARS, b.1896, deceased
Married 1928
Nova GILL, b. 1913, deceased
William Nelson FORBES, b.1905, deceased
Married – date not known
Lexie May THOMPSON, b. 1915, deceased
Joel Menton BRIDGES, b. 1888, deceased
Married 1906
Addie WILLIAMS, b1886, deceased
George Anthony PORTELL b. 1898, deceased
Married 1923
Lilian Esther LEWIS, b.1897, deceased
So where does Britney get her talent from? Her jitterbug dancing British grandmother | Mail Online
Where does 
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