‘I took a DNA test to see if I’m really related to Donald Trump’

I’ve always been intrigued about certain aspects of my family tree, so I was eager to delve deeper and discover what I could unearth. I’m aware that one side of my family has lived in the same Cheshire town for around 200 years, while another branch hails from a small Scottish village on the Isle of Lewis.

There’s compelling evidence hinting at a connection to Donald Trump and the link isn’t too distant either, with a strong chance of a connection from shared ancestors from the same area of Lewis. To investigate further, I ordered an online DNA test from MyHeritage DNA and discovered relatives I had no idea existed.

Currently, access to the service is discounted by more than £50 when customers use the discount code MyDNA before 11.59pm on December 27. This offer includes a DNA test kit and a 30-day free trial of the complete platform for £25 (was £79), plus free delivery.

MyHeritage claims to have access to 37.4 billion historical records and boasts a DNA database of 10 million, suggesting many users will uncover some intriguing results. Upon receiving the test kit, one simply swabs the inside of their cheek for 60 seconds before snapping off the end into a secure vial ready to be sent to the lab.

Initially, it felt somewhat intimidating, with the fear of making a mistake and ruining the sample, but the clear, step-by-step instructions made the process entirely straightforward. After posting my DNA sample, there’s a three to four-week wait for the results, during which MyHeritage sends regular email updates on its progress, reports the Mirror.

Upon receiving my results from MyHeritage, I discovered matches with more than 19,000 people around the world, including the UK, Australia, Canada and Denmark. All this came from a tiny sample of my DNA.

The site presents the most likely relationship and the quality of shared DNA for each match on your profile. This includes the percentage of DNA you share, the number of shared DNA segments and the longest shared segment – essentially, how closely related you are.

Of course, not all of those 19,000 members will be close relatives, but I was taken aback to connect with a distant cousin at the first try. On the MyHeritage website, members can send and receive messages to each of their matches, facilitating the sharing of more details about any potential connections.

Within a few days, I received a message from a chap named Dave, who enquired if I had ties to certain English cities in an effort to determine our connection. The information he provided didn’t ring any bells for me, so I forwarded it to my grandmother, who is an avid family tree researcher.

As it transpired, Dave and I are indeed distant cousins, sharing a great, great, great, great-grandfather who lived on the Isle of Lewis in the 1800s. There’s still some detective work left to do to fill in the gaps, but it’s a fascinating start.

So far, I’ve only spoken to two of my potential connections, but each of these includes links that span generations and continents. It’s easy to understand how the allure of uncovering your ancestry and discovering distant relatives can become quite addictive as you delve deeper into the MyHeritage rabbit hole.

Another intriguing feature of the site is the breakdown of one’s ethnicity in percentages, which revealed that, in addition to a significant amount of Scottish and English, I’m actually part Danish, Dutch and Norwegian. There’s also a dash of 1% French thrown in for good measure.

Upon registering with MyHeritage, it requests basic information about one’s parents and grandparents to start constructing a family tree. Using this data, along with information provided by my grandmother, I was able to trace my family tree back to the 1700s.

One gripe I had with the site is that, after receiving my DNA results, certain details are only accessible behind paywalls. This means members must pay for premium subscriptions to unlock features such as the ‘ancient history’ of one’s DNA, comprehensive historical records and health information based on genetics.

Similarly, viewing automatic ‘smart matches’ between one’s family tree and that of another member also incurs additional costs, although the subscription tiers begin at a reasonable £4.92 per month (was £7.42). However, with the current offer of a 30-day free trial, members can access the entire site for a month.

Even without these additional features, MyHeritage DNA provides a captivating journey into one’s ancestry. Although it didn’t verify my Trump link, I find myself already enthralled by the possibility of discovering more previously unknown offshoots of my family tree, of which I’ve merely skimmed the surface.

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