BERLIN (Reuters) - Two centuries after his Prussian ancestor rallied with the Duke of Wellington to win the Battle of Waterloo, Gebhard Leberecht von Bluecher’s direct descendant is desperate for Britain and the Germans to work together again to forge a reformed EU.

Lukas Graf Bluecher von Wahlstatt is the great, great, great, great grandson of the Prussian field marshal of the same family name, whose alliance with Wellington at Waterloo in present-day Belgium defeated Napoleon, securing peace in Europe.

Speaking to Reuters from his family home in Bavaria, Bluecher said he shares the dissatisfaction of many Britons with the EU but wants Britain to help reform the bloc rather than retreat into isolation and fond contemplation of its history.