Painting of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump’s common ancestor John of Gaunt, First Duke of Lancaster, on the left. Photo: Chronique d’ Angleterre (Volume III)/ late 15th century via Wikimedia Commons

JNS.org – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called Democratic contender Hillary Clinton “crooked Hillary” at a campaign rally in Watertown, N.Y., on Saturday. Clinton is also not known for mincing words about Trump. This makes an August 2015 report by an Israeli genealogy service, which found that Clinton and Trump are actually distantly related, newly relevant and all the more amusing.

Family tree-building service Geni.com, which is owned by the Israel-based MyHeritage.com, revealed back in August 2015 that the Democratic and Republican candidates have been found to be distantly related via John of Gaunt, the first Duke of Lancaster, and his third wife Katherine Swynford, the Duchess of Lancaster. Both ancestors, who lived in the 1300s, are the two contenders’ shared 18th great grandparents.

This means that Trump and Clinton are, in fact, 19th cousins!

“We have the tools for anybody to discover their family history and determine if they descended from royalty, or to find out more about their ancestors,” Aaron Godfrey, vice president of marketing for MyHeritage.com, told the Jerusalem Post on Monday.

“If people appreciate and internalize that, hopefully everyone will be a little nicer to each other,” he said.

Researcher A.J. Jacobs, who studied the Geni research, also told Extra in August 2015 that since Trump’s and Clinton’s “19th great grandfather is King Edward III there is precedent for ruling a country, it’s in their genes.”

Like or dislike them, never has this been more possible than now that both candidates are inching closer and closer to each party’s nomination.

A FamilyTree/Geni infographic showing how Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are related. Photo: Screenshot from Extra.com.