A Potential Wife for Prince Harry

[Skippyboo]

William isn't a heir presumptive. He is Charles's heir apparent. A heir presumptive can get bumped from their place. The Queen was a heir presumptive because she could have been bumped from the throne by a younger brother. William like his father and his son can't get bumped by a sibling.


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community

[amaryllus]

He needs a woman not a girl...Steady, mature, poised who can take the media storms, criticism in stride as you said Just like Sophie And Catherine.


He is attracted to 'Fun' young society girls


Andrew 2.0?

[Iluvbertie]

Cynderella


Can I be a bit picky?


William is not the 'heir presumptive'. He is the 'heir apparent' to the 'heir apparent', with George also his, William's, 'heir apparent'.


William can't be replaced as Charles' 'heir apparent' and so he isn't an 'heir presumptive'.


An 'heir presumptive' is someone who can be replaced in the line of succession e.g. at the moment George's 'heir' is Harry but Harry is George's 'heir presumptive' as he can, and will be, replaced as soon as the new baby is born. Andrew is Harry's 'heir presumptive' as again he can be replaced as Harry's heir whenever Harry has a child of his own.


The Queen was only ever an 'heir presumptive' because a younger brother would have replaced her as the 'heir apparent'.

[MARG]

I have to admit the notion of Harry perhaps falling in love with a fellow officer is very appealing. She would be educated, intelligent, disciplined and have a pretty good idea of both the military side of Harry and his off duty persona. A sister of a fellow officer is still an unknown but if she comes from a military family she would at least have a few clues.

Personally I think the vacuum-packed ditzy blondes that seem to surround him are all too shallow to live a life of service, let alone sacrifice and that is what it is to be married to a serving officer and multiply that again and again for him being royal.

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by miss whirley

I would love it if Harry married Gabriella Windsor. I want to hear the squawking about inbreeding. The elitist snobs would be satisfied. She could keep her last name. And Harry would get Princess Michael as a mother-in-law. If they move into Diana's old apartment they would be next door neighbors to Prince and Princess Michael. It would be the perfect British comedy set-up.

She's his type: blond, posh, wealthy and University educated. I know they are second cousins once removed, but Cressida was his fourth cousin so I doubt that would bother him.

"Fourth cousin" is a much more distant degree of consanguinity than "second cousin". Besides, with a BA in Literature from Brown University and a master's degree in Social Anthropology from Oxford, I'm afraid Gabriella would be too "brainy" for Harry of Wales.

[Curryong]

I don't think I've ever seen Harry and Gabriella Windsor even interacting together on any family occasions. She's quite a pretty blonde but she's had several boyfriends and Harry has had his romances too. They've known each other since childhood and Kensington Palace days so if anything was going to happen romance-wise it would have happened by now!

[Empress Merel]

They're quite closely related.
That's kinda gross. Let's not go there.

[amaryllus]

If Harry marries into the aristocracy he will be marrying a distant cousin of some degree, no bones about it. One of the ladies he dated briefly was an 8th cousin and Charles tried to Get Amanda Knatchbull, a second cousin, to marry him... the degree of relation was not a factor in either case.

[Pranter]

I don't think Harry will end up marrying into the aristocracy. I will be surprised if this ever happens again within the BRF.


LaRae

[KittyAtlanta]

Originally Posted by Empress Merel

They're quite closely related.
That's kinda gross. Let's not go there.

How about this one, then.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are 2nd cousins once removed, and also 3rd cousins by a different line of descent.
-----------------------------
The 3rd cousin line of descent is most famous.
Queen Elizabeth->father->father->father->Queen Victoria
Prince Philip->mother->mother->mother->Queen Victoria
-----------------------------
The 2rd cousin once removed is as follows (note number of generations)
Queen Elizabeth->father->father->mother->King Christian IX
Prince Philip->father->father->King Christian IX

[Empress Merel]

Not acceptable, tbh. Not in this day and age. Inbreeding is illegal for a reason.

[KittyAtlanta]

Most of the world doesn't consider it illegal, but I realize not everyone is comfortable with it.

[Roslyn]

Originally Posted by Empress Merel

Not acceptable, tbh. Not in this day and age. Inbreeding is illegal for a reason.

Even in the USA, which is the only country in the Western world that bans cousin marriages, it is a state matter, and in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, even first cousin marriage is perfectly legal without any conditions. In a few other states it is permitted subject to restrictions.

Only in 8 states: Nevada, North and South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Utah, and Arizona, is it a criminal offence. Cousin marriage law in the United States by state - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As far as I can tell, no US state seems to have a problem with second cousin marriages.

And as to the genetic issue: "In April 2002, the Journal of Genetic Counseling released a report which estimated the average risk of birth defects in a child born of first cousins at 1.7–2.8% over an average base risk for non-cousin couples of 3%, or about the same as that of any woman over age 40.[184] In terms of mortality, a 1994 study found a mean excess pre-reproductive mortality rate of 4.4%,[185] while another study published in 2009 suggests the rate may be closer to 3.5%.[2] Put differently, first-cousin marriage entails a similar increased risk of birth defects and mortality as a woman faces when she gives birth at age 41 rather than at 30.[186] Critics argue that banning first-cousin marriages would make as much sense as trying to ban childbearing by older women." Cousin marriage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thus the reason first cousin marriages were initially outlawed seems to have been discredited.

In the UK, first cousin marriage is perfectly legal, so Harry could even marry Beatrice or Eugenie. That notion will make most people squirm, but Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were first cousins so there is a precedent at the highest levels and within the family. Actually people might squirm even more at the thought of Harry with one of his first cousins precisely because of the fact of that first cousin marriage in their ancestry. However, as Kitty has pointed out, HM and Prince Philip are second cousins once removed and I don't think anyone has worried about the closeness of that relationship so Harry and Gabriella would be unlikely to face any opposition on the basis of theirs. This is all totally hypothetical though since I can't imagine Harry and Gabriella together.

I think Harry's future wife is currently a member of the armed forces or is working for a charity in some capacity.

[Curryong]

King George V and Queen Mary, the Queen's grandparents, were second cousins, once removed.

I just can't see Harry marrying anyone serving in the armed forces, sorry. He's probably met dozens if not hundreds of female service personnel in his Army career and, as far as it's known, hasn't dated one of them.

[Roslyn]

Originally Posted by Curryong

King George V and Queen Mary, the Queen's grandparents, were second cousins, once removed.

I just can't see Harry marrying anyone serving in the armed forces, sorry. He's probably met dozens if not hundreds of female service personnel in his Army career and, as far as it's known, hasn't dated one of them.

Ah, so George and Mary too. It's obviously quite acceptable for the BRF.

Maybe the female service personnel intimidate him or don't find him interesting. It just seems like a valuable pool of possible mates for him: women who have the advantage of understanding his work and who are used to working within a heirarchy like the RF.

[amaryllus]

The lady who Harry marries is always on show....From her hairstyle to her shoes to her weight to her facial expressions are scrutinized and critiqued in the media and on the net. She must give up her career and live by the schedule of the royal year.She can't even wear slacks on a regular basis much less shorts, if what I read about the queen not liking pants on the females in her family is true.


I just don't see many a female military member wanting to give up that much of her self.

[Roslyn]

Times change and traditions change, and HM won't be monarch forever. Anyway, perhaps for a suitable wife for Harry, HM would be prepared to relax the no-trousers rule. Princess Michael wears them a lot now. And just because Harry's wife's appearance will be scrutinised doesn't mean she will have to wear her hair in a certain way or dress in a certain way, and definitely not all the time. He might meet a servicewoman who is happy to leave that job for some reason and likes to get all gussied up occasionally. And if she's strong enough and confident enough she might well find a way to leave her mark on the role rather than the role being the one to mark her. It all depends on the individual. There are always exceptions and I'm not prepared to write off the idea as unworkable simply because of the negatives which are based on assumptions that the way things have been done in the past is the way it will have to be done in the future.

[amaryllus]

You may just be right, only time will tell but to be brutally honest Harry has a type he has not deviated from... young blond socialites who love the party as much as he does. A strong, confident military female does not seem the way his radar is aimed.

[Roslyn]

I think you're more likely to be right about this than I am, but I have a long history of backing underdogs and long-shots, and I like to think that things will go the way I hope. They rarely do but I get an enormous kick when it happens.

[amaryllus]

I sometimes wonder if he is the George Clooney of the Royal set... that he will finally settle down in his fifties with the very opposite of most every woman he ever dated