One was a shy teacher who became royalty, and the other is a "hockey mum" who wants to become the next US vice president.
Now a new report says Princess Diana and Sarah Palin may have more in common than trying to beat the establishment.
Genealogy website Ancestry.com has released new research saying the two are distant cousins.
"When you've got candidates who have deep roots in America, there's a good chance that they're going to have some famous cousins," Ancestry.com's chief family historian Megan Smolenyak told Reuters.
The website says the pair are tenth cousins, with both descended from 17th century ancestors John Strong and his wife Abigail Ford.
Strong was born in England in 1605 but later emigrated to America with his spouse.
In addition, Palin has a connection with the world's most powerful office, with Ancestry.com also saying the governor of Alaska is related to former US president Franklin Roosevelt.
Palin and Roosevelt share ancestor John Lothrop, who was born in England in 1584 and also emigrated to America, where he died in Massachusetts in 1653, Ancestry.com said.
According to family and local histories, Lothrop was a Puritan Presbyterian minister who arrived in the Massachusetts colony in 1634.