Why is it that royalty is supposed to have blue blood?

Question

why do we say people of royalty has blue blood..is this from inbreeding or are they a different species

Answer 1

I think it's to do with the availability of dyes.

Blue and purple were extreamly rare and so expensive.  I believe that the only natural source of these colourings comes from certain seashells.  So, if you were rich you'd have blue cloaths to express your wealth, while the poor were limited to earthen colours.

Purple and red is the colour of the clergy - blue the colour of royalty.

Answer 2

I guess they're cold and killed a lot of people back in the day to have the rest worship them.  Now we're in the information age, they're just the same as the rest of us.

Answer 3

It's just a slang saying, just meaning they "special, with money", the same as "born with a silver spoon"

Answer 4

Everyone has blue blood, until it reaches oxygen.

Answer 5

nothing

Answer 6

Nope - it's all the inbreeding mate

I'm surprised they aren't all vegetables to be honest.

There again, that's why they imported horse face Fergie into the bloodline I suppose

Answer 7

It's probably an attempt to make them different from us. Naturally, it fails, because they're blood is made up of exactly the same stuff as 'common' blood. So why are we supposed to treat them in these enlightened times as better than the rest of us?

Answer 8

it's a saying. somewhere from history. and yes, everyone has blue blood. until it reaches oxygen.

Answer 9

We all have blue blood, it's only when it's exposed to oxygen it goes red

Answer 10

we all have blue blood as it appears blue as seen through the skin, but it is red, the darker the blood the more oxygen it contains, the lighter the color of red the less oxygen it contains

Answer 11

In the ancient agricultural societies of Europe the whole upper class had superficial veins that might be more visible and appear bluish by comparison to the rest of the pale-pinkish skin, as the skin itself was not tanned. In contrast with the working class of the time (mainly peasants), nobility and in general upper class people did not have to work outdoors, and mostly lived sheltered from the sun by dwellings and attire.

It was the Spaniards who gave the world the notion that an aristocrat's blood is not red but blue. The Spanish nobility started taking shape around the ninth century in classic military fashion, occupying land as warriors on horseback. They were to continue the process for more than five hundred years, clawing back sections of the peninsula from its Moorish occupiers, and a nobleman demonstrated his pedigree by holding up his sword arm to display the filigree of blue-blooded veins beneath his pale skin—proof that his birth had not been contaminated by the dark-skinned enemy.

Note: An alternative traditional explanation, argyria (a disease causing a blue-grey skin tone after digestion of silver), is considered less valid, as table silverware was not regularly used by much of the nobility.

Answer 12

the british monarchy has an inherited condition called porphyria, in which the blood turns purple doe to excess red cells.

truly blue blood.

Answer 13

they must be cold people!!?