How Is Royal Family Britain Related to Other European Countries Royals

For a adult female who was reportedly none as well keen on having children and flat-out despised pregnancy, it may come every bit a surprise that Queen Victoria'south genetic legacy has had such far-reaching and monarchy-defining power.

With nine children of her ain, who in plow gave her 42 grandchildren, information technology's hardly a stretch to understand why the iconic Queen was nicknamed "the grandmother of Europe." But while Victoria herself died in 1901, leaving the throne to her eldest son, Male monarch Edward VII, the queen's legacy on the monarchies of Europe lives on fifty-fifty in modern times. Indeed, of the approximately 28 surviving monarchies around the world, 5 of them are held by descendants of Victoria.

Queen Victoria's Descendants on the Throne

Queen Elizabeth II

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The about obvious of Queen Victoria's descendants is, naturally, the current queen of England. Direct descended from Edward VII, Queen Elizabeth is Victoria's corking-great granddaughter. In 2015, she surpassed Victoria equally the longest reigning British monarch in history.

Interestingly, both Elizabeth's father, George VI, and grandfather, George V, came to the throne unexpectedly, being the 2nd of their begetter's sons. In George V'south example, he became heir after his elderberry brother, Prince Albert Victor, died of pneumonia before his father became king. George VI, in plow, inherited the title after his own older brother, Edward VIII abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Prince Philip

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As defended fans of the British royals may know, Her Majesty isn't the just 1 who can trace her lineage dorsum to Queen Victoria. While Elizabeth is descended from Victoria'south second child, Philip's beginnings extends to her third—Princess Alice.

Princess Alice married into German language dignity, and she and her married man Louis 4, Grand Duke of Hesse would proceed to have seven children, including their kickoff, named Victoria in award of the queen. That Victoria then married into the Mountbatten family unit (at the time, they were the Battenbergs, but they chose to modify the proper name to a more than Anglicized translation during WWI) and had a daughter, Alice, along with iii other children. Alice, in turn, midweek Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903. They had five children, but just one son: Philip, the future Knuckles of Edinburgh.

King Harald Five of Norway

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The not-British royal most closely related to Queen Elizabeth, Harald V is also a peachy-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria and is really descended from the same co-operative of the family as Elizabeth 2. Similar the queen, his keen-grandfather was England'due south King Edward 7, making the monarchs 2nd cousins. Harald V's grandmother, Maud, was the youngest daughter of Edward VII and became Queen of Kingdom of norway when she married Haakon Seven in 1896. The couple had only one child, Olav Five, Harald's father.

King Felipe VI of Spain

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When information technology comes to strong genetic links to Queen Victoria, it's hard to outdo the Castilian king. The youngest of Victoria'south reigning descendants, Felipe took over the Castilian throne from his male parent in 2014 after Juan Carlos I abdicated. ("I do not want my son to wither waiting similar Prince Charles," the King reportedly said of his choice to stride down.)

On one side, Felipe Half-dozen can trace his lineage to Victoria dorsum through his begetter. His paternal grandfather, Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona was the son of Princess Victoria Eugenie, herself the daughter of Queen Victoria's youngest child, Princess Beatrice. But that's not his merely familial link to the iconic queen.

In fact, Felipe is also related to Queen Victoria through his mother, Queen Sofia of Kingdom of spain, via Queen Victoria'south eldest girl, Victoria, Princess Royal, ii times over. On her mother'southward side, Sofia is the not bad-granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, while on her male parent'southward side, she'south the granddaughter of Sophia of Prussia. Both Wilhelm 2 and Sophia of Prussia were children of Victoria, Princess Royal, pregnant that Sofia is both the great-great-great-granddaughter and the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

King Carl Xvi Gustaf of Sweden

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Like Felipe Half-dozen, the Swedish king besides carries the distinction of being descended from Queen Victoria in multiple ways. Though he never got to know his begetter, Prince Gustaf Adolf (he died in a aeroplane accident when Carl was just a infant), it is through him that Carl XVI Gustaf claims a connexion to Victoria's seventh child, Prince Arthur. Arthur'southward daughter, Princess Margaret, married the then-prince of Sweden, Gustaf Half dozen Adolf, and with him had five children, including Prince Gustaf Adolf and Queen Ingrid of Denmark.

Carl'southward female parent, Princess Sibylla, on the other paw, was descended from Queen Victoria's youngest son, Prince Leopold. Leopold passed away young as the result of hemophilia, just not before having two children with his wife, Princess Helena—a daughter, Princess Alice, and a son, Charles Edward. Charles Edward, who became the last reigning knuckles of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha earlier he and his family were stripped of their titles following his back up of Germany in WII, had 5 children, amid them, Princess Sibylla.

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

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First cousin to Male monarch Carl Sixteen Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II became the beginning female person ruler of Denmark in over 500 years when she ascended the throne in 1972. Similar Carl, Margarethe traces her family unit line back to Queen Victoria via Victoria's son Prince Arthur by manner of his daughter, Princess Margaret.

While Princess Margaret'due south oldest son, Prince Gustaf Adolf, was part of the line to the Swedish throne before his untimely death, information technology was her but daughter, Ingrid, who would get a queen, admitting in another country. Ingrid, because of her royal blood and her beauty, was considered quite a take hold of and some fifty-fifty speculated that she might be a match for the futurity Male monarch Edward Eight of England (prior to his abdication) but she ultimately married Frederick Eleven of Denmark, becoming Queen of Denmark in 1947 when her husband ascended the throne.

Together, the royal couple had three daughters, Margarethe, Benedikte, and Anne-Marie, a fact which might have led Frederick's younger blood brother to take the throne after his decease, if not for a 1953 amendment that immune female succession and led Margarethe to become heir to the throne.

Honorable Mention

King Phillippe of Belgium

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Though Phillippe is not a descendant of Queen Victoria, the 2 do still share a family tree. In fact, the current king of Belgium has genetic ties to both Victoria and her hubby, Prince Albert, equally he is the direct descendant of their common uncle, King Leopold I of Kingdom of belgium.

Queen Victoria's Descendants Who Were the Last to Hold the Throne

While Queen Victoria's descendants already take an exceptional foothold in the purple world, were it non for numerous political shifts in the terminal century, the number of Victoria'southward monarch descendants could be far larger. Just have a look at all of these now-ended monarchies who were last presided over by Victoria'southward family.

Germany

Queen Victoria in 1894 with her girl Victoria, her sons Arthur, Alfred, and Albert, and her grandson, Wilhelm II.

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Queen Victoria's very beginning grandchild Wilhelm II, also known as Kaiser Wilhelm, as well became the first of her descendants to lose his throne when he abdicated in Nov of 1918, just days before the end of WWI. The eldest of Victoria, Princess Royal's children, Wilhelm was considered advised and impulsive, traits that alienated many and played a significant role in the commencement of the war.

Following his abdication, Wilhelm fled to the netherlands, where he ultimately died in 1941; Federal republic of germany savage into a brief civil conflict after the loss of their political leadership and ultimately empowered a presidency equally caput of land, rather than render to a monarchy.

Russia

Queen Victoria with her granddaughter Alexandra Fedorovna, smashing-granddaughter Olga, Tsar Nicholas Ii, and her son Albert, Prince of Wales at Balmoral in 1896.

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Victoria's second daughter, Princess Alice, was plagued by tragedy throughout her life—she nursed her father, Prince Albert as he died, a loss which overshadowed Alice's own marriage to Louis IV, Grand Knuckles of Hesse; she lost her two twelvemonth old son Friedrich to a brain hemorrhage acquired past hemophilia, and her sixth child, Alix, when Alix and her family were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Alix, who would become ameliorate known to history every bit Alexandra Feodorovna, was the Empress of Russia and wife of Tsar Nicholas Two of the house Romanov. Together the ii had five children, all of whom were executed along with their parents. Their deaths came post-obit a revolution in 1917, forcing Nicholas to abdicate in favor of his brother Michael. However Michael elected not to ascend the throne and after a few years nether a provisional regime, Russian federation would get part of the USSR in 1922.

Romania

Michael I of Romania in 1940.

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Like some of his relatives, the last king of Romania, Michael I, claimed relation to Queen Victoria on both sides of his family tree. On his father's side, he was descended from Victoria'due south son Prince Alfred via his daughter, Marie. Marie married Ferdinand I in 1893 and they had half dozen children, the oldest of whom was Carol Two, Michael'due south father. On his female parent's side, he owes his Victorian lineage to Victoria, Princess Royal, whose girl, Sophia of Prussia, had six children, including Michael's mother, Helen of Greece and Denmark.

Michael I actually served every bit king of Romania twice—his father, Ballad II, ran off a with a mistress when Michael was very immature, renouncing his rights and leaving Michael to inherit the throne upon his grandfathers death when he was v. Carol later on returned and was proclaimed king by parliament, but was ultimately deposed and Michael was reinstated as male monarch in 1940 where he served until 1947 when communist forces demanded his abdication at gunpoint. Michael accented (though he would later argue that the abdication was not valid due to the circumstances) and spent nigh of the next 50 years in exile.

Yugoslavia

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King Peter Two of Yugoslavia in 1942

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the former Yugoslavia and Romania shared a border, the royal families of both countries were also close. Yugoslavia's terminal king, Peter Ii, was in fact start cousins with Romania'south Michael I. The duo shared a relation through Peter's mother, Maria, who was the daughter of Marie of Romania, herself the daughter of Queen Victoria's son, Prince Alfred.

Peter II ascended the throne at age 17 in a coup d'etat against his uncle and regent, who wished to marry Yugoslavia with Deutschland during WWII. Within a month of his coronation in 1941, Yugoslavia was overrun past the Axis powers and Peter spent near of the residue of the war in England alongside his godfather, Male monarch George 6. After the war, Peter was not allowed to return to Yugoslavia, and he was ultimately deposed in 1945.

Greece

Constantine II of Hellenic republic and Anne-Marie of Kingdom of denmark in 2017

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The nigh recent of Queen Victoria's family'south thrones to autumn was Greece, whose terminal king, Constantine II, served until the monarchy was abolished in 1973. He's the son of King Paul of Greece, who inherited the throne from his older brother, George II, who died childless in 1947. Constantine Two is likewise the younger blood brother of Queen Sofia of Spain and a cousin Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Paul was the youngest son of Sophia of Prussia, herself a daughter of Victoria, Princess Royal.

In 1964 Constantine II married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, the sis of Queen Margarethe II, meaning that all five of Constantine and Anne-Marie'south 5 children are, like numerous royals earlier them, dual-descendants of Queen Victoria.