Palin's family has links with Princess Diana

Barack Obama and Dick Cheney are not the only political odd couple who share a family tree.

Sarah Palin is linked in her lineage to former US President Franklin D Roosevelt and she also has a connection with Diana, Princess of Wales.

Mr Roosevelt, the Depression-era Democratic president, is a distant cousin of Mrs Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, according to genealogists at Ancestry.com.

Mr Roosevelt is Mrs Palin’s ninth cousin once removed. Their common ancestor is Rev John Lothrop, who came to Massachusetts in 1634.

Mrs Palin also has ties to the late British princess, the website’s researchers found. The Alaska governor is a 10th cousin of the former royal.

Last year, Mr Cheney’s wife, Lynne, discovered the ancestral ties between the Republican vice president and Democratic presidential nominee while researching her book.

She said the relationship was eighth cousin, though the Chicago Sun-Times has traced it as ninth cousins once removed.