Allan Morrison has traced Elvis Presley's ancestors back more than 250 years in order to write his most recent book, The Presley Prophecy.

The first Presley in America was Andrew Presley, from Lonmay in the North-east of Scotland, who arrived in North Carolina in 1745.

From this landing of the first Presley in America, Elvis's ancestry can be directly traced to 1933, when Vernon Elvis Presley married Gladys Love Smith in 1933 and on January 8, 1935, Elvis Aaron Presley was born.

Allan Morrison said: "'Scottish genealogy is a high profile, popular subject, and it gets no bigger than Elvis Presley.

"Elvis Aaron Presley is the world's most enduring icon. Even today, some twenty-six years after his death, Elvis' works and life are continually featured in the media.

He added: "Having established that the Presleys were of Scottish origin, it has been a joy to trace back their past and write about the adventures of Elvis's ancestor, Andrew Presley, who lived in Scotland during an exciting period of history, namely the Jacobite rebellion."

Jim Presly, 70, from Oldmeldrum near Lonmay, has researched his own family's Elvis connection over the years.

He said: "I definitely think there is some truth in this as there are lots of Presleys from this area. Sometime during the mid-eighteenth century my family's name was changed and the 'e' disappeared because of someone's spelling error. I know this both through looking at local census records and due to the fact I have an old bible belonged to my grandfather's father and in it his surname is spelt the same way as Elvis's.

"Both myself and my sister, who lives in America, have been interested in this for some time. We knew that Elvis's ancestor, Andrew, emigrated from Paisley, but we did not know that he was originally from the Lonmay area.

"I've been associated with Elvis all my life because of my surname and because I was born only two years after him, also my wife always thought our son James looked like Elvis when he was younger."

Ian Dunlop, Aberdeen and Grampian Tourist Board's chief executive, said: "If Elvis is indeed from Aberdeenshire, this could be great for the area. Over a million people visit Gracelands every year and over 400,000 websites are purely dedicated to Elvis. He is an enduring icon more than a quarter century after his death and we would be delighted to welcome Elvis fans here to Aberdeen and Grampian to search out his roots!"

Paul Downie, spokesman for Scotland's Elvis Touch Fan Club said: "Elvis fans will be delighted with this news.

"To hear Elvis has his roots in Scotland, in Lonmay, is brilliant. For years fans have thought there was a connection with Presley and Scotland and I have always thought his roots came from the Aberdeenshire area.

"I would think fans will want to visit Scotland and Lonmay - I imagine there will be an upsurge. Elvis was at Prestwick in 1960 for an hour and fans from throughout the world visit, so you can imagine what might happen to Lonmay!"

Using the extraordinary tale of Elvis' ancestry, Allan Morrison has expanded the information into a, still to be published, faction novel that follows Andrew Presley through the dramatic events unfolding in Scotland in 1745 and the Jacobite Rebellion.