Different topics
I am reading through this blog and I see a number of different topics, so I will list some random thoughts:
(1) Prince Josef Wenzel (age 14) is eventually the heir to the throne of Liechtenstein, and the Jacobite succession. Joseph Wenzel's birth generated some excitement in Jacobite circles. Firstly, having been born at Portland Hospital in London, he is the first Jacobite heir born in Great Britain since James Stuart in 1688. Secondly, barring unforeseen circumstances, Joseph Wenzel will eventually become a Head of State, a position not held by a Stuart pretender since Victor Emmanuel I ruled Sardinia. Should Scotland ever want their own king, he is a good candidate, but it would have to be in a personal union with Liechtenstein,
(2)
Anne of Hyde (married 1660) was the last spouse of a king born in Britain to marry an heir presumptive or heir apparent to the British throne until the marriage of Charles and Diana in 1981. Both women died before becoming queen consort. Camilla will be the first in three centuries to become consort.
(3) Anne of Hyde, and Wallis Simpson are the only two women to marry a man who was a king where the familial relationship between the spouses was unknown. Of course, neither was Queen Consort, Anne dying before James II became King, and Wallis marrying after Edward VIII abdicated. Both marriages were scandalous. Anne Hyde would give birth to two future queens, but neither Mary II, nor Anne had children.
(4) All 16 consorts since the marriages of Henry the 8th have been marriages between
3rd cousins once removed or closer with only one exception. George VI and Elizabeth (Queen Mother) were
13th cousins, having their most recent common ancestor of Henry the 7th who died 400 years before their wedding. Four of these 16 marriages have been between first cousins (William & Mary, George I, George IV, and Victoria & Albert), and one between first cousins once removed (Mary I & Phillip II, King of Spain). Table of 16 consort weddings (+2 that were not consorts) and degree of cousin relationship & yes for "once removed".
1 yes Queen Mary I & Felipe II von Habsburg
single Queen Elizabeth I ---
3 yes King James I Stuart & Anne von Oldenburg
3 yes King Charles I Stuart & Henriette-Marie de Bourbon,
illegit King Charles II Stuart ---
????? King James II Stuart & Anne Hyde
3 yes King James II Stuart & Maria Beatrice d'Este
1 Queen Mary II William & Mary (co-monarchs)
2 yes Queen Anne & Georg von Oldenburg
1 King George I & Sophia Dorothea
3 yes King George II & Queen Caroline
3 King George III & Charlotte Mecklenburg
1 King George IV & Karoline von Braunschweig
3 yes King William IV & Adelheid von Sachsen-Meiningen
1 Queen Victoria & Prince Albert
3 King Edward VII & Queen Alexandra
2 yes King George V & Queen Mary
????? King Edward VIII & Wallis Simpson
13 King George VI & Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
2 yes Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Philip
(5) All marriages from Henry 8th back to William the Conqueror tended towards more distant cousins, but no further than 6th cousins. Richard III, and Anne Neville were first cousins once removed, but they formed the only marriage that was that close.
(6) Diana closest familial relationship to Charles was 7th cousin, once removed. Camilla's closest is 11th cousin to Charles.
(7)
Kate Middleton's family history is not well documented in the 18th century. She may be a descendant of Mary Boleyn. William is descended from both children of Mary Boleyn. Of course, both children are suspected of being fathered by Henry the 8th. If she does become Queen, I suspect that some graves will be interred to do DNA testing.
(8)
Any two people with even a drop of English blood are probably at least as close as 30th cousin to each other. It is estimated that anyone with English blood has better than a 99.9% chance of being descended from Edward III, who lived through the black death. He is known to have many descendants in the first few generations at the same time most of his countrymen were dying of plague. The estimate is derived from using known rates of marriage, children, and cousin marriages in later eras,
(9) I have never thought of Scotch as a way to describe people.
(10) The Duke of Kent and his wife do not appear to have a close marriage. She was notably absent from the 60th anniversary party of The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
(11) The relatively infrequent marriages to the first cousin would be very unlikely to significantly increase the risk of latent genetic disease. Only two of the first cousins marriages (George I, and Victoria) produced a lot of descendants. The genetic disease prevalent in Pakistani-British that is widely reported by BBC, results from the overwhelming repetition of first-cousin marriages in all generations. The genetic diseases in the Hapsburgs was the result of repeated uncle/niece marriages as well as cousin marriages. The monstrous Charles II, the last Hapsburg king of Spain, had so much intermarriage in his ancestry that he had the genetic equivalent of being born to full blooded siblings. The genetic disease of hemophilia that Victoria spread is completely unrelated to her first cousin marriage. I am pointing out these facts, because of the careless use of the term
"inbred" by some people. It's probably fair to say that the royals in the past were not very
outbred , but the term
inbred is an overstatment and insulting.
.
