#1 Queen Elizabeth And Prince Philip
We’re starting our list with nothing surprising, as the royals have had a long history and (horrible) tradition of trying to preserve the “blue blood.” This leads to numerous marriages between cousins and sometimes even half-siblings over the course of history, with modern times being no exception. There are monarchs who are related, and they still got married!
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip were actually cousins, and if that wasn’t enough, they are related twice over! They are third cousins due to Queen Victoria, but they are also second cousins once removed through one of the Danish royals, Christian IX. The two first met at a royal wedding back in 1934, when Philip was thirteen and the young princess was only eight.
The two met again in 1939, and through the encouragement of the people around them, it is said that they started to write letters back and forth on a regular basis. And if you thought that marrying someone you’re related to, like your cousin, isn’t weird enough, what makes this story even crazier is the fact that the family encouraged an eighteen-year-old to write romantic letters to their thirteen-year-old cousin.
Despite the bizarre nature of it all, the two actually fell in love, and they got married in 1947 when Elizabeth was twenty-one. It was apparently one of the requests that King George put in place in order to agree to the union. The two had a long and loving marriage, which you can read about in the Queen’s biography alongside other facts about her time as a monarch!
4 thoughts on “9 Famous People Who Were Related and Still Got Married”
It has been documented that Jefferson and his slave Hemmings were in love. It is not fair to say he abused her. She was half sister to his former wife.
Any couple related or not, also is at risk of having a child with genetic conditions or health problems! Although taboo in some cultures, marriage between first cousins is accepted in many cultures around the world. The vast majority of children of first cousins are healthy and do not have problems due to their parents’ relatedness. It is important to keep in mind that even for an unrelated couple, there is an approximately 2-3% chance that their child is born with a birth defect, genetic syndrome, or disability.
The risk for children of first cousins is increased over this background, by about 3%. ( Not enough to forbid or look down upon )
The above information is from the “Genetic Awareness Project”
Another note of fact: Mary and Joseph were first cousins…. and though Jesus supposedly was immaculately conceived his siblings were definitely born of Mary and Joseph. If G-d sanctioned their marriage then who are we to say that such marriages are taboo?
You missed another famous couple who were cousins. FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt..
The outlaw Jesse James married his first cousin, Zerelda Mimms. She tended to his wounds from the Civil War.