The only book to investigate the sudden appearance of the haemophilia gene in the Royal Family.

An intensive historical study of the hereditary diseases hemophilia and porphyria in the personal and political lives of the European royal families Part I Nineteenth century medical knowledge of hemophilia as a hereditary bleeding disorder will be considered. Hemophilia appeared in a son born to Queen Victoria in 1853. Hemophilia was transmitted through Victoria’s unaffected daughters to the ruling houses in Germany, Russia and Spain. The political consequences of a chronically ill male heir to the throne fostered the demise of the royal families in these countries. The royal physicians were well aware of the hereditary nature of hemophilia and failed to advise the British royal family on this matter that had significant political consequences for the modern world. Part II The “Madness of King George III” resulted from variegate porphyria, an inherited disorder of heme metabolism. The disorder was evident in: The immediate family of George III, Ancestors from at least the 13th century, Descendents into the 20th century. The malady was inherited by other ruling houses in continental Europe and affected political life there for over six centuries. Genetic analysis will consider how such an anomaly could have been inherited through so many successive generations. Preliminary DNA evidence will be considered to document variegate porphyria in living relatives of the British royal family. Alternate history if these disorders had not plagued the royal families will be considered in conclusion.

The race to the crown -- The birth of "pocket Hercules"--The lonely, naughty princess -- An impossible, strange madness -- "Awful scenes in the house"--Becoming queen: "I shall not fail" -- The coronation: "a dream out of the Arabian nights" -- Learning to rule -- A scandal in the palace -- Virago in love -- The bride: "I never, never spent such an evening" -- Only the husband, not the master -- The palace intruders -- King to all intents: "like a vulture into his prey" -- Perfect, awful, spotless prosperity -- Annus Mirabilis: the revolutionary year -- What Albert did: the Great Exhibition of 1851 -- The Crimea: 'This unsatisfactory war' -- London boils over -- Royal parents: "everything passes so quickly!" -- "Who will call me Victoria now?" -- "The whole house seems like Pompeii." -- Resuscitating the widow at Windsor -- The queen's stallion -- The faery queen awakes -- Enough to kill any man -- Two ironclads colliding: the queen and Mr. Gladstone -- The monarch in a bonnet -- The "poor munshi" -- The diamond empire -- The end of the Victorian Age - "The streets were indeed a strange sight

This book examines the life of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, including his life at Oxford and the varied and interesting friendships he developed there (with, among others, Charles Dodgson - "Lewis Carroll" - John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde).

The story of five women who shared one of the most extraordinary and privileged sisterhoods of all time. Vicky, Alice, Helena, and Beatrice were historically unique sisters, born to a sovereign who ruled over a quarter of the earth's people and who gave her name to an era: Queen Victoria. Two of these princesses would themselves produce children of immense consequence. All five would curiously come to share many of the social restrictions and familial machinations borne by nineteenth-century women of less-exulted class. Victoria and Albert's precocious firstborn child, Vicky, wed a Prussian prince in a political match her high-minded father hoped would bring about a more liberal Anglo-German order. That vision met with disaster when Vicky's son Wilhelm-- to be known as Kaiser Wilhelm-- turned against both England and his mother, keeping her out of the public eye for the rest of her life. Gentle, quiet Alice had a happier marriage, one that produced Alexandra, later to become Tsarina of Russia, and yet another Victoria, whose union with a Battenberg prince was to found the present Mountbatten clan. However, she suffered from melancholia and died at age thirty-five of what appears to have been a deliberate, grief-fueled exposure to the diphtheria germs that had carried away her youngest daughter. Middle child Helena struggled against obesity and drug addition but was to have lasting effect as Albert's literary executor. By contrast, her glittering and at times scandalous sister Louise, the most beautiful of the five siblings, escaped the claustrophobic stodginess of the European royal courts by marrying a handsome Scottish commoner, who became governor general of Canada, and eventually settled into artistic salon life as a respected sculptor. And as the baby of the royal brood of nine, rebelling only briefly to forge a short-lived marriage, Beatrice lived under the thumb of her mother as a kind of personal secretary until the queen's death. Principally researched at the houses and palaces of its five subjects in London, Scotland, Berlin, Darmstadt, and Ottawa-- and entertainingly written by an experienced biographer whose last book concerned Victoria's final days-- Victoria's Daughters closely examines a generation of royal women who were dominated by their mother, married off as much for political advantage as for love, and finally passed over entirely with the accession of their n0 brother Bertie to the throne. Packard provides valuable insights into their complex, oft-tragic lives as daughters of their time.

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (1853-84), is acknowledged to have been the most intelligent and probably the most interesting of Queen Victoria's four sons. He was the youngest and a strong-willed attractive character, with an immense thirst for life. He was also, however, the first haemophilia sufferer in the royal family and endured continual ill health; as if haemophilia was not enough, he was also epileptic. In this biography, Charlotte Zeepvat has drawn on sources to reveal a compelling human story which also touches on the wider worlds of late 19th-century Oxford and of literature, art and politics in the Victorian period. In particular, it examines the question of haemophilia and the royal family. There are many questions to answer, such as when did the Queen and Prince Albert realize their youngest son was ill and how much did they understand of his illness? Some of Leopold's early attacks were described as "rheumatism" - was this an attempt to keep the truth concealed or a genuine misunderstanding? The book also presents a full and balanced picture of Leopold's relationship with his mother. Letters already published provide snapshots of individual quarrels between mother and son but no one has yet considered the relationship as a whole. Finally it eamines Leopold's life at Oxford, the varied and interesting friendships he developed there (with, among others, Charles Dodgson - "Lewis Carroll" - John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde), his political views and the importance of his work as unofficial secretary to the Queen.

Queen Victoria's son, Prince Leopold, died from haemophilia, but no member of the royal family before his generation had suffered from the condition. Medically, there are only two possibilities: either one of Victoria's parents had a 1 in 50,000 random mutation, or Victoria was the illegitimate child of a haemophiliac man. However the haemophilia gene arose, it had a profound effect on history. Two of Victoria's daughters were silent carriers who passed the disease to the Spanish and Russian royal families. The disease played a role in the origin of the Spanish Civil War; and the tsarina's concern over her only son's haemophilia led to the entry of Rasputin into the royal household, contributing directly to the Russian Revolution. Finally, if Queen Victoria was illegitimate, who should have inherited the British throne? The answer is astonishing.