BERLIN (Reuters) - Pop singer Victoria Beckham is a descendant of a 19th century German communist who was close to Karl Marx, a German historian was quoted as saying on Monday.

Beckham, born Victoria Adams and now wife of soccer player David Beckham, is the great-great-great-granddaughter of revolutionary and artist Carl Heinrich Pfaender, said Hans Mueller, a historian from the southwestern city of Heilbronn.

Mueller told news agency ddp he had researched the life of Heilbronn native Pfaender, who lived from 1819 to 1876 and was a close associate of Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Pfaender took part in the failed revolution of 1848 and was forced to flee to London where he worked as a miniaturist and painter to make ends meet, he added.

"He certainly didn't get rich doing it," Mueller said. "His wife was buried in a pauper's grave."

The historian told ddp he was astonished to discover the link between a pioneer of the workers' movement and the pop star, and has contacted Beckham's mother Jacqueline.

He said she had confirmed his findings and promised to tell Victoria, who came to fame as "Posh Spice" in the Spice Girls.

Pfaender's brother Wilhelm was a choral singer who was also active in the revolution and emigrated to America in 1848, later becoming state treasurer in Minnesota, Mueller said.

Source: Reuters