8 Royals who were married to their relatives

When it comes to royal families around the world, maintaining the purity of age-old lineage and ensuring the peace inside the family comes at a high price. For eons, royals have been marrying their own cousins and relatives so as to strengthen the relationship within the family and/or to build up a stronger political alliance. Such bizarre instances may not have shocked people in the old times, but considering the tradition lives on to the present day, it might come as a surprise to many. That said, here are the royals who had or have married their relatives.

George IV was the son of King George III, who was the younger brother of Princess Augusta Frederica. Caroline of Brunswick was the daughter of Princess Augusta, which actually made the royal couple first cousins. While the two were married to one another, they did not have a happy and a fruitful marriage.

Known to have ruled for decades, Queen Victoria is also famous for the many royal intermarriages that took place across Europe. In order to strengthen the borders and to maintain the peace amongst the royal families, she herself married her first cousin, Prince Albert, both of whom shared the same grandfather, Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach, she became the Queen of Hungary after she married Emperor Franz Joseph I, who was her cousin, at the age of 16. Also known as Sisi, she was obsessed with her beauty and did everything in her power to maintain it. However, in the course of time, she suffered from depression and also became anorexic.

Like mother, like son, King Edward VII, also married his cousin, but a distant one, Alexandra of Denmark. Born to Queen Victoria, the two shared the same great-great grandparents, making them both third cousins.

King George, like his father, King Edward VII and his grandmother, Queen Victoria, also married his cousin, Mary of Teck. Son of King Edward VII, George V was the great-grandson of King George III. Following the same lineage, Queen Mary was the great-granddaughter of King George III, which made the two second cousins.

Queen Elizabeth II is the great-granddaughter of King Edward VII, Queen Victoria’s son. On the other hand, Prince Philip was the son of Princess Alice, Queen Victoria’s daughter. This makes the two distant cousins.

Prince Charles may well be related to Princess Diana too. While Prince Charles descends from a son of the 3rd Duke of Devonshire, the late Princess of Wales descended from a daughter of the 3rd Duke called Lady Elizabeth Cavendish.

Surprisingly, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may also be related to one another. In light of all the backlash, given her foreign race and American origin, the two may be related after all. According to an article in Elle in 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are distant cousins dating back to the 15th century.