queen victoria family tree ppt hemophilia

Princess Beatrice married Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885. Of her five daughters, two were definitely carriers- Alix, the future Tsarina of Russia and Irene, who married Prince Henry of Prussia – of the gene as they passed it on to their children. Of Alice’s two sons, one suffered from haemophilia and the two-year-old Friedrich died after a fall. Princess Alice married the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse in 1862 and they went on to have seven children together. She gave birth to a son named Leopold Charles Edward George Albert a few months later. Leopold died after suffering a fall in 1884, leaving behind a pregnant Helena. They had a daughter named Princess Alice of Albany in 1883, and she too was a carrier of the gene for haemophilia, and she passed to her son Rupert who died in a car crash at the age of 20. Leopold married Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1882. This unfortunate defect… is often not outgrown & no remedy or medicine does it any good.” He continued to have accidents and resorted to wearing a knee-pad. It is very sad for the poor Child – for really I fear he will never be able to enter any active service. Victoria wrote, “Your poor little namesake is again laid up with a bad knee from a fall – which appeared to be of no consequence. Queen Victoria first mentioned a “defect” in a letter to the King of the Belgians on 2 August 1859 – there had clearly been a diagnosis though it is unknown if they were aware of the hereditary aspect.

When Leopold began to walk, it was noticed that he bruised easily.

In addition to Prince Leopold, two of Queen Victoria’s daughters – Princess Alice and Princess Beatrice – carried the gene for haemophilia and passed it on. In 1891, researchers finally showed that the blood of haemophiliacs took longer to clot. She once wrote, “No one knows the constant fear I am in about him.” Yet at the time, it was thought he simply had weak veins or some kind of male menstruation. Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold turned out to have the so-called “royal disease” and Victoria lived with continuous guilt. When the future Queen Victoria was born in 1819, no one knew that she was the carrier of a blood disease that would go down in history as the “royal disease.” Haemophilia was quite misunderstood in Queen Victoria’s day, and few haemophiliacs were expected to live to adulthood.

Queen victoria family tree ppt hemophilia