Half of European men are related to Tutankhamun

HALF of all Western European men are related to the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, geneticists in Switzerland have said.

Scientists at Zurich-based DNA genealogy centre, iGENEA, reconstructed the DNA profile of the boy Pharaoh, who ascended the throne at the age of nine, his father Akhenaten and grandfather Amenhotep III, based on a film that was made for the Discovery Channel.

The results showed King Tut belonged to a genetic profile group, known as haplogroup R1b1a2, to which more than 50% of all men in Western Europe belong, indicating they share a common ancestor.

Among modern-day Egyptians this haplogroup contingent is below 1%, according to iGENEA.

“It was very interesting to discover that he belonged to a genetic group in Europe — there were many possible groups in Egypt that the DNA could have belonged to,” said Roman Scholz, director of the iGENEA Centre.

About 70% of Spanish and 60% of French men also belong to the genetic group of the Pharaoh.

The centre is now using DNA testing to search for the closest living relatives of “King Tut”.

“The offer has only been publicised for three days but we have already seen a lot of interest,” Scholz told Reuters.