King was born in Nottingham, England. She moved to Canada at an early age and was brought up in Vancouver, British Columbia. She studied at the University of British Columbia and worked on archaeological sites in Canada, Greece, and England, before moving to the University of Cambridge to read Archaeology and Anthropology. There she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree. She won a scholarship to study for a Master of Science degree in Molecular Genetics at the University of Leicester, gaining a First with Distinction. In 2000, she started her doctoral research as a Wellcome Trust Prize Student at the University of Leicester, specializing "in tracing migration patterns by using genetics." Her award-winning thesis on the relationship between British surnames and Y-chromosomal haplotypes was published in 2007, and eventually formed the basis of the book Surnames, DNA and Family History, which she co-authored with David Hey and George Redmonds.
Career and research
King's research initially centred around genetics, genetic genealogy, and surnames, and using aspects of human DNA such as the Y chromosome to track past human migrations. Her work has included tracing "the signal of the Viking migration to the north of England", resulting in her appearance in Michael Wood's on BBC Two, and in Michael Wood's Story of England. Her research themes involve combinations of molecular genetics with history, forensics, archaeology, geography, and genetic genealogy. It was this background that made her ideally placed to lead the genetic analysis involved during the exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England, confirming the identity of remains discovered underneath a Leicester car park through the use of descendant DNA.
Public engagement
As Professor of Public Engagement, King regularly undertakes public speaking at universities, schools and public events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival, the Moscow Science Festival, a Congressional Breakfast on Capitol Hill, the Galway Science and Technology Festival, and the :de:Queen's Lecture|Queen's Lecture in Berlin. She advises on numerous television programmes and provides genetic expertise to authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Edward Glover, and David McKie. King has also appeared in a number of television and radio documentaries as an expert in genetic genealogy, forensics, and/or ancient DNA.
King is married with four children. It can be assumed that she has a good relationship with her father, as she relayed a secret message to him during the 2013 press conference announcing the findings concerning Richard III's remains; though sworn to secrecy by the University on the findings until the announcement, when she went onstage, King wore "a particular strand of pearls" to let her father watching from Vancouver immediately know that the DNA had been a match.
