Marriages Between British Royal Cousins

[KathyMoore]

are there any first/second-cousin marriages between British royals?
(current, or within the last 150 years)

 

[magnik]

How about:
Victoria Melita and Erna Ludwig von Hesse -
Princess Alice mother of Ludwig and Prince Alfred father of VM were siblings.
Marina nad George Duke of Kent weren't quite close cousins?

 

[Iluvbertie]

At 158 years (February 1840)- Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are also cousins through common descent from both Victoria and Albert and Christian IX of Denmark and Louise.

Victoria - Edward VII - George V - George VI - Elizabeth II
Victoria - Alice - Victoria - Alice - Philip

Christian IX - Alexandra - George V - George VI - Elizabeth II
Christian IX - William I of the Hellenes - Andrew - Philip

 

[MAfan]

George V and MAry were Second cousins once removed
Maud and Haakon VII were first cousins
Louis of Battenberg and Victoria were first cousins once removed
irene of Hesse and heinrich of Prussia were first cousins

 

[EmpressRouge]

1904 - Prince Alexander of Teck (brother of Queen Mary) and Princess Alice of Albany, later Earl and Countess of Athlone, second cousins once removed descended from George III:
George III-> Adolphus, D of Cambridge-> Mary Adelaide, Dchss of Teck-> Alexander
George III-> Edward, D of Kent-> Queen Victoria-> Leopold, D of Albany-> Alice

1913 - Prince Arthur of Connaught and Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, first cousins once removed from Queen Victoria:
Victoria-> Arthur, D of Connaught-> Arthur (never Duke, died before his father)
Victoria-> Edward VII-> Alexandra, Princess Royal-> Alexandra, Dchss of Fife (she was duchess in her own right)

1932 - Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (her father was born a British prince), parents of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, second cousins from Queen Victoria:
Victoria-> Arthur, D of Connaught-> Margaret, Crown Princess of Sweden-> Gustaf Adolf
Victoria-> Leopold, D of Albany-> Charles Edward of Albany, D of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-> Sibylla

1934 - Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, second cousins from Christian IX of Denmark:
Christian IX-> Alexandra-> George V of Britain-> George, D of Kent
Christian IX-> George I of Greece -> Nicholas of G and D-> Marina

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Before Queen Victoria, were not the Hanover's full of 1st cousin marriages??

 

[MAfan]

Before Queen Victoria, were not the Hanover's full of 1st cousin marriages??

Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, and his wife Mary were first cousins; King Friedrich Wilhelm I and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hannover were first cousins.

 

[magnik]

No they were from 1 to 5 or 6 cusins.

Queen Victoria's parents were cusins.
George IV nad his wife Karoline cusins
Prince Frederick August and wife Frederike cusins 3 degree
King Wilhelm IV and wife Adelheid cusins
Princess Elizabeth and husband Friedrich VI von Hesse-Homburg cusins
Ernst August I King von Hannover and wife Friederike close cusins
their son King George V nad his wife Marie cusins
Prince Adolphus and wife Augusta von Hesse-Kassel about 2 or 4 degree
theur daughter Augusta and husband Friedrich Wilhelm close cusins
Princess Mary and husband William Frederick von Hannover Duke of Gloucester was a grandson of Friedrich Ludwig Prince of Wales

 

[MAfan]

Frederick Lewis Prince of Wales - William Henry Duke of Gloucester - William Frederick Duke of Gloucester
Frederick Lewis Prince of Wales - George III - Princess Mary

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Were not George IV and Queen Carolina 1st cousins? Didnt the Duke of Cumberland (who became King of Hanover) marry a Mecklenburg 1st cousin (had already "disposed" of two husbands).
Adolphus and Augusta Cambridge were 2nd/2nd Once Removed, correct?

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Princess Augusta of Cambridge and her husband, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz were 1st cousins through the Hesse-Cassel family - but were kin also as descendants of George II ( I think)

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Being a good Southern boy..... I cant say a thing about all the cousins marrying cousins, Russ....
my family is riddled with it!
LOL!

 

[Russophile]

Being a good Southern boy..... I cant say a thing about all the cousins marrying cousins, Russ....
my family is riddled with it!
LOL!

Russo, if you please.
We may be getting some whiskers in our old age but we're not entirely manly--yet!
Marrying cousins was quite common, and we all know QV popped out a huge brood, but I can say I'm happy it is stopping and that I agree with Prince Philip when Diana injected new genes into the line!

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

My Apologies, Russo...
and yes - marrying of cousins was quite common....
two of my great grandparents were double first cousins! hahaha

But in seriousness, the British royal family - had no time at all with the Hapsburgs. The uncle/niece marriages were just gross and cruel.

 

[ysbel]

The royals married cousins more than us common folk, Mr Landgrave. Had to keep up the royal alliances you know.

 

[EmpressRouge]

Back in the day when transportation wasn't as advanced, even common folk had a high chance of marrying a cousin, alliance or no alliance. If you lived in a small isolated village (or even a group of towns), you would eventually run of out non-relatives to marry. And given infant mortality, the populations were not as large as they are now. Add to that people did not associate outside of their class, and your pool of potential partners dwindled down even more.

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Empress R - thats exactly what my two grandmothers said - you married the people you saw at church or associated with in the community - and after a generation or two, they were likely related to you. And much like the nobles and royals of Europe (on a smaller scale, per say), the best way to hold on to your property is to marry a family member.

 

[scooter]

The royals married cousins more than us common folk, Mr Landgrave. Had to keep up the royal alliances you know.

Unfortunately all of that inbreeding, while useful for treaties, had a rather disasterous effect on many royal houses. From hemophilia, the hapsburg 'lip', to the many mentally deficient rulers/heirs over the centuries. Combine the inbreeding with the rampant and untreated venereal diseases in the old days and you've got quite a 'Prince'.

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

I know! The Hapsburgs especially - its a wonder that any of them could carry out the basic functions of human day to day life!

 

[ysbel]

Unfortunately all of that inbreeding, while useful for treaties, had a rather disasterous effect on many royal houses. From hemophilia, the hapsburg 'lip', to the many mentally deficient rulers/heirs over the centuries. Combine the inbreeding with the rampant and untreated venereal diseases in the old days and you've got quite a 'Prince'.

Most hemophilia is not affected by inbreeding. It takes only one defective gene passed from mother to son to make a hemophiliac. Now if a hemophiliac married his first cousin, a hemophilia-carrier, they could possibly have a hemophiliac daughter but that's so rare, I've never heard of such a case.

The Hapsburg lip wasn't a genetic defect, per se, but a strong dominant facial feature that was passed down from generation to generation. The Hapsburgs courted disaster by marrying uncles to nieces and that causes a whole load of genetic problems.

From what I've read, the risk of birth defects of a child born in a first-cousin marriage is about the same as a woman giving birth to her first child at 40, about a 6% higher chance than the normal population. But marriages from any relations closer than that can cause severe birth defects.

 

[EmpressRouge]

Most hemophilia is not affected by inbreeding. It takes only one defective gene passed from mother to son to make a hemophiliac. Now if a hemophiliac married his first cousin, a hemophilia-carrier, they could possibly have a hemophiliac daughter but that's so rare, I've never heard of such a case.

The Hapsburg lip wasn't a genetic defect, per se, but a strong dominant facial feature that was passed down from generation to generation. The Hapsburgs courted disaster by marrying uncles to nieces and that causes a whole load of genetic problems.

From what I've read, the risk of birth defects of a child born in a first-cousin marriage is about the same as a woman giving birth to her first child at 40, about a 6% higher chance than the normal population. But marriages from any relations closer than that can cause severe birth defects.

You're absolutely right. It's not so much inbreeding causes defects. When you do not introduce new genes into you, any genetic problems you were carrying before are more likely to show up in your kids because you married a relative who also has that gene. If you come from a family w/o any bad genes, you can possibly avoid all bad genetics by marrying exclusively w/in your family. The chances of passing a bad gene down is random, 50-50. The chances of it showing up rises when you both your parents have that gene. Some are lucky and some are not. Carlos II of Spain was the ultimate posterchild for the problems of Hapsburg inbreeding, yet his sister Margarita Teresa (the infanta in Velázquez's Las Meninas) was physically fine, even though they had the same ancestry.

Queen Victoria's hemophilia gene is believed to came from a mutation from her father. In any instance, she would have passed it to her children, regardless of whether she married a first cousin or not.

 

[Russophile]

Isn't it strange that they were, the royals, in a sense almost practicing the same marrying techniques as the Ancient egyptians? Having one primary wife, they a secondary to introduce new dna into the gene pool, and then having the primary offspring marry the secondary offspring to keep the line "pure" in a sense?

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Its fascinating to me totally - the whole inbreeding thing...
hahahaha.....

 

[Shaiya]

I think inbreeding is yucky. The last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, Charles II of Spain had a multitude of physical and mental deficiencies that probably showed up thanks to his crazy family tree. Here's a picture of it, it's kind of disturbing actually;

Source: Wikipedia

I know a lot of the royals interbred due to the whole alliances thing and the fact that after a couple centuries, there weren't that many totally unrelated royals in Europe. But it still gives me the heebie jeebies. Good thing the last couple generations of royals have been marrying outside the family though.

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Inter-royal marriage adds to the crown! And, Im sure alot of it was pure snobbery, as not wanting to marry beneath them...

 

[ysbel]

Carlos II of Spain was the ultimate posterchild for the problems of Hapsburg inbreeding, yet his sister Margarita Teresa (the infanta in Velázquez's Las Meninas) was physically fine, even though they had the same ancestry.

I hadn't thought about that but you're right. They both came from an uncle-niece marriage though which is courting danger.

Carlos' half-sister Maria Theresa married her first cousin, Louis XIV, and their children seemed fine.

Isn't it strange that they were, the royals, in a sense almost practicing the same marrying techniques as the Ancient egyptians?

Well not exactly, Russo. Cleopatra married her brother and I don't even think the Hapsburgs did that!

 

[magnik]

Were not George IV and Queen Carolina 1st cousins? Didnt the Duke of Cumberland (who became King of Hanover) marry a Mecklenburg 1st cousin (had already "disposed" of two husbands).
Adolphus and Augusta Cambridge were 2nd/2nd Once Removed, correct?

They are not only 1 but other degrees cousins too/
Try here:
Genealogy - roglo

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Thank you!!

 

[Russophile]

Well not exactly, Russo. Cleopatra married her brother and I don't even think the Hapsburgs did that!

That's why I said, "In a sense"

 

[Odette]

I am not sure if Cleopatra or the Hapsburgs had anything to do with it, but the Rothchilds early on were marrying their nieces to keep the money within the family. I was very surprised when I read the story of the different branches of the family and how closely they worked to amass their fortune.