Haemophilia In European Royalty

[Furienna]

If none of her brothers have haemophilia, I doubt she's a carrier.

[Vanesa]

She could actually be a carrier, even if his brothers are free of haemofilia. If you read some of the essais published about the matter, you'll see that you can have only one of your sons with haemophilia, or all of them. Princes Sibilla of Luxemburg had only two sons. It could be that if she would have keeping having more children, one of them could have been an haemophiliac...or not.

This disease is capricious and complicated.

Vanesa.

[morhange]

Sibilla only had one brother, Paul, and he died when he was young, and so it could be possible it was due to hemophilia. Even if Sibilla isn't a carrier, she has two younger unmarried sisters who could be, and her older sister has two daughters who could be.

Think of Queen Victoria. She had three completely healthy sons before she had Prince Leopold. Sibilla could also be in the same state, and perhaps her only daughter is a carrier, or perhaps not. Only time will tell. Sibilla's older sister, Beatrice, has two sons and two daughters. Now the sons may be healthy, but the daughters may be carriers. The same goes for their younger sisters Cosima and Domitilla.

[lyndaW]

Lets just hope that hemophelia is a thing of the past

[Furienna]

I don't think it's a thing of the past. There still are haemophiliacs. But I think they can live better lives now than what they could back in the old days.

[wymanda]

Originally Posted by fearghas

Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg (nee Weiller) is a descendant through the female line of Queen Victoria. As far as I know none of her three sons have Haemophillia. It is possible that her daughter, Princess Charlotte could be acarrier.

From which daughter is she descended?

[fearghas]

Princess Sibilla is a descendant of Queen Victorias youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, through her daughter, Princess Victoria Eugenie who became Queen of Spain.

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by fearghas

Princess Sibilla is a descendant of Queen Victorias youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, through her daughter, Princess Victoria Eugenie who became Queen of Spain.

Maybe this quote interests you:

" The King's choice was peculiarly acceptable to us as a family, and to Spain as a nation : the Princess brought newblood, health, and youth into our midst ; in her we had no reason to fear the curse of heredity, her "background" was untemperamental, nothing better could have been wished for in short, the advent of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was entirely welcome."

A statement by HRH Maria Eulalia of Spain, duchess of Montpensier from her book "Courts and Countries" from 1925 - you can read it as text only or on viewing the book at http://ia310903.us.archive.org/0/ite...11mbp_djvu.txt

If only they had known....

And another statement about Victoria Eugenie from the same book:

" Victoria Eugenie never attempts to meddle in politics, and I am sure that she prefers to be known as a Queen of Beauty and a Queen of Hearts, rather than as a queen intrigued by diplomacy and questions of State. "

So in 1925 "Queen of Hearts" already was used to describe a Royal personality...

[billie-jo]

l have this in my family on my mother's side.
my grand mother as it and my mother as well as
my brother and is three girl's.
And my younger brother as it as well as his
new baby boy.
And i have it as well as my older son.
billie-jo

[fee]

well then you should be in a position to tell us, whether this disease is something that could be completely hidden from the public or not.
Do you (not only you Billie-Jo, but a question to all) think that if for ex Prince Edward had HP (which would explain his absence from any military service) BuckHouse would have told us? Or would they have relied on and hoped for the advanced medical treatments? (Of course it is highly unlikely that Edward would have inherited it since the female line between QEII and VIctoria is interrupted)

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by billie-jo

l have this in my family on my mother's side.
my grand mother as it and my mother as well as
my brother and is three girl's.
And my younger brother as it as well as his
new baby boy.
And i have it as well as my older son.
billie-jo

That sounds like an unusually large number of females to have the disease rather than be carriers.

[Leslie2006]

Originally Posted by Hereditary Thane

It is even more amazing to think how successful Victoria's and Albert's genes have been given the fact that her granddaughters gave haemophilia to two crown princes, and several other more distantly descended offspring. It has also been mooted that Victoria also passed on the genetic disposition towards porphyria to some of her German descendants.

Very true. It started with King George III, Victoria's grandfather, and later showed up in her own great-great granddaughter Feodora (through Vicky) as it did with her mother Charlotte (Vicky's daughter). Those are the only two QV descendants I can think of, but are there any more?

Also, about Victoria's paternity, it's said that she resembled the Duke of Kent's family very much in looks (and note, John Conroy did not have a genetic history of heamophilia nor did he suffer from it), and heamophilia can mutate in the genes of one person, it doesn't necessarily have to be passed on by an ancestor. There is no record of the disease showing up in the British royal family before Victoria, therefore the gene most likely began with her.

[Furienna]

Or maybe it started with her mother, or with her mother's mother or her mother's mother mother? A woman can pass the gene down to her daughter without anyone noticing it. A girl usually won't suffer haemophilia unless both her parents carry the gene, while a boy only need to inherit the gene from his mother to be a sufferer (a boy can't inherit the gene from his father, as it lies in the X chromosone).

[Leslie2006]

As far as I know, the gene didn't come from Victoria's mother's family either. Something tells me it's very unlikely for a gene like that to be passed down 3 generations without it being noticed (ie: a male bleeder). It's probably possible, just not very likely.

[Furienna]

Hmmm, you're right. And didn't Victoria even have an older half-brother, who would have been a sufferer, if her mother had been a carrier?

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Hmmm, you're right. And didn't Victoria even have an older half-brother, who would have been a sufferer, if her mother had been a carrier?

She had an elder brother and sister,

• Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich, Prince of Leiningen
• Princess Feodora of Leiningen

[Leslie2006]

Originally Posted by Lumutqueen

She had an elder brother and sister,

• Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich, Prince of Leiningen
• Princess Feodora of Leiningen

Exactly. And Furienna to answer your question: yes, if Victoria's mother had been a carrier, it's very likely that Charles of Leinigen would've been a sufferer, but he wasn't, (as Feodora was not a carrier) so it's unlikely that their mother would've carried the defective gene.

[Furienna]

Yeah, I figured that out.

[KittyAtlanta]

I don't believe the Duchess of Kent knew Conroy until after she had concieved Victoria.

[Furienna]

Hmmm... You're right. And boys can't get the disease from their fathers either.