Why does the Royal Family now marry outside the family? What were the problems?

Question

Was it because of mixed genes or something?

Answer 1

Inbreeding leads to genetic defects and a reduced gene pool meaning great difficulty producing healthy children - and incest is kinda wrong.....

Answer 2

Always has done. Royal families have gone in for marrying foreigners for a very long time.

There used to be a big enough pool of royal/aristocratic blood around the world for it to be possible without marrying your cousin.

OF course, in the 20th century, all royals in Europe is seemed had some relation to Queen Victoria, but they were not probably any closer than most village idiots in rural and industrial Britain.

Answer 3

I guess one reason would be because the "royals" are left to find their own partners instead of having arranged marriages.

Answer 4

No more arranged marriages. Also there is a shortage of royalty to mix with. They need a bit of common blood to mix them up a bit now & then.

Answer 5

Yes- Haven't you ever seen graphic that depicts how hemophilia ravaged the royal families of Europe because they all married each other?!

Answer 6

In the past, because there were lots of royals dotted about Europe, it was possible for the offspring of the King and Queen to marry abroad.  HM Queen Victoria had children who married into royal families abroad, Russia, Germany, etc.

Here below is Hitler's favourite Royal : -

YouTube - Hitler's Favourite Royal (2of2)

he was a n**i so what. he done no harm. your twisted you are. he was just an old

... Join YouTube for a free account, or log in if you are already a member. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZk-BEpRu...

The following links take you to Queen Victoria and her children, most of whom married into other royal houses in Europe : -

QUEEN VICTORIA: IMAGES OF HER WORLD

This site presents a collection of images of Queen Victoria, her extensive ....

Queen Victoria's children at Prince Albert's birthplace (Rosenau) in 1865; ...

http://www.btinternet.com/~sbishop100/ - Cached

Queen Victoria for kids

Most of Queen Victoria's children married into other royal families of Europe.

... Queen Victoria was succeeded by her eldest son, Albert Edward, ...

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/...

Since the end of WW-One, after which two major royal houses came to an end, Russia and Germany, it was no longer possible for royal children to be married off abroad so easily.

In theory it would be possible for a British royal child to marry royal child of the Spanish court.  However, there is a problem of religion in that England is Protestant and Spain is Catholic.

The Monarch of the English throne is now allowed in law to be other than Christian Protestant.  So if a British royal child were to marry a Catholic, this might cause considerable problems here in UK - well, let's say it would stir things up a great deal.

So what to do?

Look at the English aristocracy, who in most cases are established for 1,000 and who on the whole simply look down their noses at royalty who don't have the same pedigree - Anglo-Norman, but who are on the whole rather too German.

Okay.  King George VI when still Duke of York married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons - a member of the Scottish aristocracy with Royal Scottish connections etc.

New blood etc.

In our own time, Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer. ...and so it must go...

YouTube - Royal Wedding Charles & Diana (1981)

Would you like to comment? Join YouTube for a free account, or log in if you are

already a member. ... Princess Diana and Prince Charles' Wedding Photos ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6A8K24VG...

Royalty and why we love it : -

YouTube - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Montage of the 1953 coronation serviceQueen Elizabeth II is the Monarch of 16

independent countries and the Head of the Commonwealth of 54 nations across ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlT28t9BL...

Answer 7

they are still inerter  breeding,but a few generations down the line.

Answer 8

Insanity caused by inbreeding.

Answer 9

If they had chosen to marry outside of "Royal" circles generations ago and widened the gene pool, we may not have had some of the intellectually challenged lot we are now saddled with.

Answer 10

If you ask me they more recently married outside their species.

Answer 11

Too much inbreeding, so many European royal houses were related in some way or another.

Answer 12

because otherwise it would be incest if they married within the family

Answer 13

Inbreeding.  Pure and simple.  They were starting to look like the Habsburgs.  Gonna die out, soon.