Royal Cousins

[Shikha Pal]

Late Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte of Luxembourg is the sister of King Albert of Belgium. Josephine Charlotte"s daughter Marie Astrid married Archduke Carl Christian who is a cousin of Archduke Lorenz of Austria, now Prince of Belgium, who is the son in law of King Albert of Belgium. So the children of both the couples are second cousins twice.

The Prince Michel of Ligne married D. Leonora of Brazil, whose brother, D. Antonio married Princess Christine of Ligne, The sister of Prince Michel of Ligne. So the children of both the couples are cousins twice.

Princess Alix of Luxembourg, is the sister of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg. She married a Prince of Ligne (Unfortunately i cannot remember his name!). So, Grand Duke Henri and Prince Michel of Ligne are cousins

Grand Duke Henri"s sister Princess Margaretha has married Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein who is the brother of Prince Hans Adam of Liechtenstien

[Leslie2006]

Originally Posted by Furienna

I'm sorry, Leslie, but I think you made some mistakes. If I'm not totally wrong, the common ancestry to Queen Victoria should be like this:

Victoria ---> Edward ---> Maud ---> Olav ---> Harald ---> Haakon

Victoria ---> Arthur ---> Margarethe --- > Gustaf Adolf --- > Carl Gustaf ---> Victoria

Victoria ---> Arthur ---> Margarethe --- > Ingrid ---> Margarethe ---> Frederick


And let's not forget either, that the Norvegian royal family actually is a part of the Danish royal family.

Frederick VIII ---> Christian X ---> Frederick IX ---> Margarethe II ---> Frederick

Frederick VIII ---> Carl/Haakon ---> Olav V ---> Harald V ---> Haakon

Yeah you're right with the Queen Victoria connection; it was about 2:00 AM when I originally typed that up (in Word) so now that I look at it, the mistakes make sense.

So Haakon and Victoria are 4th cousins, Frederick and Victoria are 2nd cousins through Queen Victoria; Haakon and Frederick are 3rd cousins through Frederick VIII. What about their connection through Oscar II of Sweden? I probably screwed that one up too. lol

[Furienna]

Those connections would be:

Oscar II ---> Gustaf V --- > Gustaf VI Adolf ---> Gustaf Adolf ---> Carl XVI Gustaf ---> Victoria

Oscar II ---> Gustaf V ---> Gustaf VI Adolf ---> Ingrid ---> Margarethe II ---> Frederick

Oscar II ---> Carl ---> Märta ---> Harald V ---> Haakon

So if I've understood this correctly, Victoria and Frederick are still 2nd cousins, and Haakon is their mutual 3rd cousin once removed.

[Leslie2006]

So the Scandinavian royals are fairly closely related then. Wow. I've also read several times that Victoria, Frederick and Haakon are more like siblings to each other than cousins. They're all fairly close in age too - Frederick is the oldest (born 1968), followed by Haakon (born 1973), then Victoria (born 1977).

[Shikha Pal]

King Albert of Belgium and King Harald of Norway are cousins, their mothers are sisters

[oneofthem]

You all talk about adding "fresh blood" to the royal lines by having the various royals marry "commoners". The only way Prince William could add "fresh blood", for instance, to the Royal family in the UK is if he married an Asian or African girl. Let me put it this way...is there anyone here who is descended from Sir Thomas Fairfax and Ann Gascoigne, or from Sir Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland (through either of his wives....Margaret Stafford or Joan Beaufort). If you are, and your a woman (of the right age to be young enough to be William's fiancee), then you'll be William's 19th Cousin via Sir Ralph or 15th Cousin via Sir Thomas. It means that there are a great number of women around who are fairly close cousins of the Prince...quite a few million of them to be precise.

It doesn't matter who he marries, there is a good chance that they are actually family and not as far removed as you might think or believe.

[Furienna]

Well, 15th cousin is hardly that closely related, is it? It's not like the royals of older days, who married their 1rst cousins.

[nascarlucy]

It seems like most of the royal households in Europe have a connection to each other. Some are more close than others. It's been very interesting when royals marry commoners and the commoners that they marry usually have link to them (of course it's 12 or 13 times removed or further back but the link is still there). The link always seems to be there. It would be interesting to find out how many royals have married a commoner that shared no link to them at all or had no royal bloodline at all. I can think of a few people but I'm not 100% sure.

[oneofthem]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Well, 15th cousin is hardly that closely related, is it? It's not like the royals of older days, who married their 1rst cousins.

No, it's not like the olden days, however, 15th cousins isn't all that distant. If you were talking 25th or 30th cousins, then you'd be talking some distance between the two people. Anything more than 20th cousins is a good distance between two people.

[oneofthem]

Originally Posted by nascarlucy

It seems like most of the royal households in Europe have a connection to each other. Some are more close than others. It's been very interesting when royals marry commoners and the commoners that they marry usually have link to them (of course it's 12 or 13 times removed or further back but the link is still there). The link always seems to be there. It would be interesting to find out how many royals have married a commoner that shared no link to them at all or had no royal bloodline at all. I can think of a few people but I'm not 100% sure.

There would be a few people with no royal links around, but not as many as you would think. Most people would have some form of aristocracy in their family trees.

[Furienna]

I would say neither our queen, Silvia, nor Norway's queen, Sonja, most likely have any royal background. Of course, if we're talking fifteen generations back, I'm not sure, but still...

[oneofthem]

Originally Posted by Furienna

I would say neither our queen, Silvia, nor Norway's queen, Sonja, most likely have any royal background. Of course, if we're talking fifteen generations back, I'm not sure, but still...

You wouldn't know unless you looked....I'd say there's a reasonable chance that they have. You don't have to be connected within a few generations (say seven, for instance) to be of royal descent, whether directly or indirectly. If they have any noble blood in their veins, so to speak, at any stage, there's a good chance of a royal connection. Most people at this forum who have royal connections would have to go back 15-30 generations. Some are luckier, others would have to go back further. But that doesn't lessen their connection anymore than someone born into such a family. Those that retain their privileged positions are those family members who come from the lines lucky or ruthless enough to have retained their status. The others just have to make their merry way.

[Grandduchess24]

Queen Elizabeth II of England has many royal cousins and most is through Queen Victoria or King Christian IX of Denmark or otherwise because she is related to

HM king Juan Carlos I of Spain
HM king Michael I of Romania
HM king Carl XVI of Sweden
HM Queen Sofia of Spain
HM Queen Margarethe II of Denmark
HM Queen Anne Marie of Greece
HM king Harald C of Norway
HM king Constantine II of Greece
And in some way probably to the monarchs of Belgium, lietchenstein, Monaco, Luxembourg and Russia
And at times maybe related to their spouse
Like Anne Marie and Constantine , Sofia and Juan Carlos , Elizabeth II and prince Phillip .

[Leslie2006]

William and Kate are 12th cousins, once removed via an illegitimate descendant of the Stuarts. Also, Princess Diana and the former Duchess of York are distant cousins through Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Diana is descendant from Georgiana's son, the Marquess of Hartington, while Sarah is descended from her illegitimate daughter, Eliza Courtney.

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by Grandduchess24

Queen Elizabeth II of England has many royal cousins and most is through Queen Victoria or King Christian IX of Denmark or otherwise because she is related to

HM king Juan Carlos I of Spain
HM king Michael I of Romania
HM king Carl XVI of Sweden
HM Queen Sofia of Spain
HM Queen Margarethe II of Denmark
HM Queen Anne Marie of Greece
HM king Harald C of Norway
HM king Constantine II of Greece
And in some way probably to the monarchs of Belgium, lietchenstein, Monaco, Luxembourg and Russia
And at times maybe related to their spouse
Like Anne Marie and Constantine , Sofia and Juan Carlos , Elizabeth II and prince Phillip .

Let's see... The first king of Belgium was prince Albert's brother, so Elizabeth is distantly related to that family. And she was related to the last tsar of Russia through Christian IX and to the last tsarina through Queen Victoria. I don't know about the royal families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Luxembourg though.

And yes, she's related to Anne Marie through Queen Victoria and to Constantine and Sophia through Christian IX.

[Marc23]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Let's see... The first king of Belgium was prince Albert's brother, so Elizabeth is distantly related to that family. And she was related to the last tsar of Russia through Christian IX and to the last tsarina through Queen Victoria. I don't know about the royal families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Luxembourg though.

And yes, she's related to Anne Marie through Queen Victoria and to Constantine and Sophia through Christian IX.

They are all related,it just depends to what degree...

Monaco:

Prince Albert II of Monaco has descended from Princess Marie von Baden(Duchess of Hamilton) and through her is related to Queen Elizabeth II...in fact Prince Rainer(father of Albert II) and Queen Elizabeth are 7th cousins due to their common ancestry from Prince Johann Willelm Friso von Nassau-Dietz,Stadholder of the Netherlands...

Luxembourg:

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg is 3rd cousin once removed with Queen Elizabeth II as they are both descendants of King Christian IX of Denmark...
Queen Elizabeth II has also descended from Nassau-Weilburg dynasty(who in turn has descended from Kings of Britain) which later ruled in Luxembourg...


Liechtenstein:

Prince Hans Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein is also 7th cousin to Queen Elizabeth II as they are both descendants of Johann Willem Friso,Prince von Nassau-Dietz and Stadholder of the Netherlands...

[Furienna]

Ah, thank you!

[Warren]

From Johan Georg II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d1693)

The current reigning or de juré monarchs of:

Albania
Austria
Bavaria
Belgium
Denmark
Great Britain
Greece
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Sweden


From James I, King of England (d1625)
through his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Friedrich V, Elector Palatine, King of Bohemia

The current reigning or de juré monarchs of:

Austria
Bavaria
Bulgaria
Denmark
France (Bonaparte)
France (Orléans)
Great Britain
Greece
Hanover
Italy
Liechtenstein
Norway
Prussia
Romania
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Yugoslavia [Serbia]

source: Burke's Royal Families of the World, Vol 1

[Marc23]

After all they are all somehow connected!

[Marc23]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Let's see... The first king of Belgium was prince Albert's brother, so Elizabeth is distantly related to that family. And she was related to the last tsar of Russia through Christian IX

It would be also interesting to say that Elizabeth II and current King Albert II of the Belgians are more closely related as they are both descendants of King Christian IX of Denmark which makes them 3rd cousins...