Antiquities expert Dr Zahi Hawass (right) announces today in Cairo's Egypt Museum that the mummies in front of him have been identified as Tutankhamun's father, mother and grandmother by using DNA
Dr Zahi Hawass removed King Tut from his stone sarcophagus in 2007 to study his DNA. Tests revealed the king was a sickly young adult
Technicians take DNA samples from the mummy of Boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. Tests revealed his parents were siblings
The mummy of King Tut's grandmother Queen Tiye. She was the chief wife of Amenhotep III and mother of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Tiye was held in high esteem by her husband and depicted with him in pictures. There has been speculation that her eldest son Prince Tuthmose, who disappeared from royal records, was Moses
King Tut's father Akhenaten (left) and mother (right) who has been identified for the first time using DNA, were brother and sister. The royal family were seen as living deities so incest was an acceptable way of retaining the sacred bloodline
King Tutankhamun was a hobbled, weak teenager with a cleft palate and club foot. And he probably has his parents to blame.
For the mother and father of the legendary 'golden' boy pharaoh were actually brother and sister.
The startling discovery was revealed today by a team led by Egyptian antiquities expert Dr Zahi Hawass. They identified the mummies of both his parents and two of his grandparents by studying DNA samples over two years.
King Tut has fascinated the world ever since his ancient tomb was unearthed by the British archaeologist Dr Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in 1922.
Stunning funerary treasure was found in his tomb, including an 24.2lb solid gold death mask encrusted with lapis lazuli and semi-precious stones.
Rumours of a curse arose after Dr Carter's benefactor Lord Carnarvon died suddenly a few months after the tomb was opened, even though Dr Carter went on to live another 16 years.
King Tut was known to be the son of the 'heretic' pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to reform the Egyptian religion during his rule from 1351 to 1344BC. But the identity of his mother had been shrouded in mystery until now.
Incest was rife among the boy king's family because pharaohs were believed to be descended from Gods.
Therefore it was an acceptable way of retaining the sacred bloodline. King Tut's own wife Ankhesenpaaten, was his half-sister as they shared the same father.
But Dr Hawass' team found generations of inbreeding took their toll on King Tut - the last of his great dynasty.
The bone disease he suffered runs in families and is more likely to be passed down if two first-degree relatives marry and have children.
They described him as: 'A young but frail king who needed canes to walk.' This explains the presence of more than 100 canes in his tomb, which he would have needed in the afterlife.
Tut, who became pharaoh at the age of 10 in 1333 BC, ruled for just nine years until his death. He was the last of the royal line from the eighteenth dynasty of the New Kingdom.
The sickly teenager was not murdered but died from complications arising from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today.
The theory he was assassinated stemmed from the fact that he was the last ruler of his dynasty and had a hole in the back of his head.
In 2005 Dr Hawass announced his team had found no evidence for a blow to the back of the head, and the hole was from the mummification process.
The cause of King Tut's death has long been disputed among historians, with many speculating that he was murdered.
Theories that he was assassinated stemmed from the fact that he was the last ruler of his dynasty and had a hole in the back of his head.
However, in 2005 Dr Hawass announced his team had found no evidence for a blow to the back of the head, and the hole was from the mummification process.
King Tut was succeeded by the high priest Ay for four years - who also married his widow Ankhesenpamon.
Ay was followed by the military leader Horemheb who ruled for 26 years until he ceded power to Ramses, founder of the 19th dynasty.
The researchers studied 16 mummies from the Valley of the Kings. They revealed that beneath the golden splendour in which they lived, ancient Egypt's royals were as vulnerable as the lowliest peasant to disease.
Three other mummies besides Tut's showed repeated malaria infections and incestuous marriages only worsened their maladies.
However, analysis of King Tut's family disproved speculation his family suffered from rare disorders that gave them feminine attributes and misshapen bones, including Marfan Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that can result in elongated limbs.
The theories arose from the artistic style and statues of the period, which showed the royal men with prominent breasts, elongated heads and flared hips.
'It is unlikely that either Tutankhamun or Akhenaten actually displayed a significantly bizarre or feminine physique,' the team said.
One of the most impressive-looking mummies who was studied was King Tut's grandmother, Queen Tiye. She was the chief wife of Amenhotep III and mother of King Tut's father Akhenaten. She was the first queen to figure so prominently beside her husband in statues and temple reliefs.
Queen Tiye held much political influence at court and acted as an adviser to her son after the death of her husband. A lock of her hair was found in a miniature coffin in King Tut's tomb.
Her tomb was identified by matching the labelled hair in Tut's tomb with the well-preserved hair on her mummy.
The ancient Egyptians were very concerned with maintaining their hair to promote their social status. They devised remedies for baldness and graying and regularly washed and scented their hair. Adults sometimes wore hairpieces, and had elaborate styles.
Hair does not continue to grow after death, instead the skin retracts around the follicles as it dries, making the hair jut out more prominently.
INCEST AND ROYALTY
King Tut (pictured below) belonged to the 18th dynasty of Egyptian kings during the period of the New Kingdom. His genealogy is complex as there was considerable inter-marriage within his family.
The pharaohs believed they were descended from the gods and incest was seen as acceptable so as to retain the sacred bloodline. King Tut was born c.1341 BC. His father was Akhenaten, first known as Amenhotep. Tutankhamun's mother has been confirmed as Mummy KV35YL, a sister of Akhenaten. Tut's stepmother was Nefertiti, the chief wife of Akhenaten. In c.1348 BC Ankhesenamun was born to Akhenaten and Nerfertiti, making her Tut's half-sister. At the age of ten Tut married her. He died at the age of 19.
