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The reign of Queen Victoria is undoubtedly a brilliant chapter in British history. However, beneath the glossy façade of this royal family lies a little-known family tragedy.
The queen, who ruled for 64 years, hated childbirth since she was a child, but under the persuasion of her husband Prince Albert, she actually agreed to have children, and gave birth to 9 in a row in the next 17 years!
However, no one could have imagined that it was this move that allowed a terrible genetic disease to spread widely among European royal families, and even said that it almost collapsed European royal families.
So why did the queen have a large number of children, and how did she spread the disease throughout the royal family? Let's take a look back at the life of the Queen of England.
1. The Maiden Under the Crown: Victoria's Accession to the Throne and Marriage
Early summer morning in 1837, 18-year-old Princess Victoria was awakened from her sleep to learn that she had become Queen of the British Empire.
This petite girl suddenly took on the burden of a vast empire on her shoulders. Victoria's coronation marked the beginning of a new era that came to be known as the "Victorian Era".
However, the young queen soon realized that the crown, while giving her supreme power, also brought with it heavy responsibilities. Soon after her reign, Victoria faced pressure from all sides to marry and have children as soon as possible to ensure the continuation of the royal bloodline.
In 1840, Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert Sachs-Coburg-Gotha. This marriage is not only the crystallization of the love of two young people, but also a well-planned political marriage.
Clever and visionary, Albert soon became Victoria's right-hand man and closest associate.
Soon after the marriage, Victoria found out that she was pregnant. Despite her fear and disgust at the pregnancy and fertility process, as a conscientious monarch, she gritted her teeth and persevered. On November 21, 1840, Victoria gave birth to her first child, Princess Victoria.
The birth experience was painful and terrifying for Victoria. She wrote in her diary: "Giving birth to a child is a terrible torture, danger and pain. "However, this is just the beginning. Over the next 17 years, Victoria went through eight more births, each time in agony.
2. "Marriage Bed Politics": Albert's Big Ambitions
Although Victoria is child-loathing, she is deeply in love with her husband, Albert. It was this deep love, coupled with Albert's persuasion, that made Victoria pregnant and had children again and again.
Prince Albert was a visionary. He was well aware that in Europe at that time, marriages between royal families were an important means of consolidating political relations. He came up with a grand plan that came to be known as "marriage bed politics."
At the heart of this plan was to consolidate British influence in Europe by having many children and then marrying them into the major European royal families.
"Dear Victoria," Albert often persuaded his wife, "our children will be the link that connects the nations of Europe." Through them, we can spread British influence across the continent. "
Despite Victoria's fear of childbearing, she gradually became convinced by her husband's vision. She wrote in her diary: "As much as I loathed the feeling of pregnancy, I couldn't help but be struck by Albert's enthusiasm to see him so worried about the future of the continent." "
And just like that, with Albert's encouragement, Victoria began her fertility marathon. Every one to two years, a new life is born in the palace.
Princess Victoria, Prince Edward (later Edward VII), Princess Alice, Prince Alfred, Princess Helena, Princess Louis, Prince Arthur, Prince Leopold, and finally Princess Atelis.
3. The Shadow of Hemophilia: An Untold Genetic Tragedy
However, just as Victoria and Albert were complacent about their plan for "marriage bed politics," a problem quietly arose that they had not expected at all.
In 1853, Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold. At first, the little prince looked no different from any other child. But as Leopold grew up, people began to notice something unusual about him. He often bruises inexplicably, and even minor bumps can cause severe bleeding.
Initially, the doctors were confused by Leopold's condition. It was only later that they realized that the little prince was suffering from a rare hereditary bleeding disorder - hemophilia.
Hemophilia is a disease caused by a genetic mutation on the X chromosome. The patient's blood lacks clotting factors, making it difficult to stop the bleeding. Under the medical conditions of the time, it was an almost incurable and fatal disease.
Even more shockingly, over time, it was discovered that some of Victoria's other descendants were experiencing similar symptoms. Her daughter Alice's son, Friedrich, died of the disease at the age of three.
Gradually, a terrible fact emerged: Queen Victoria was most likely a carrier of the hemophilia gene. And through her children, this deadly gene is quietly spreading among European royal families.
4. Royal Marriage: A Journey to Europe for Hemophilia
As Victoria's children grew up, Albert's "Marriage Bed Politics" program began to be implemented gradually. Victoria's children married into royal families in various European countries, seemingly realizing Albert's grand blueprint, but inadvertently brought the hemophilia gene to the entire European continent.
Victoria's eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, also named Victoria, was married to Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and later became Empress of Germany, and some of her descendants were confirmed to carry the hemophilia gene.
The second daughter, Alice, was married to the Great Highway IV of Hesse. Her son, Friedrich, was the child who died of hemophilia at a young age. And her daughter Alexandra brought this gene into the Romanov dynasty of the Russian Empire.
Alexandra was married to Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. Their only son, Crown Prince Alexei, suffered from severe hemophilia, which became one of the important factors influencing the course of Russian history. To treat Alexei, the tsars turned to the mysterious monk Rasputin, which indirectly led to the decline of the Russian royal family.
Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Atelis, brought the hemophilia gene into the Spanish royal family. Her grandsons, Alfonso XIII and Gonzalo, both suffered from hemophilia.
In this way, Victoria's descendants fulfilled Albert's political ambitions while spreading a deadly disease to all corners of Europe. This plan, which was originally intended to strengthen the ties of European royal families, turned into a tragedy that crossed borders because of an unknown gene.
5. Victoria's Troubles: The Secrets and Dilemmas of the Royal Family
As more and more of her grandchildren showed symptoms of hemophilia, Queen Victoria began to realise the seriousness of the problem. She wrote in her diary: "I am deeply worried about my children and grandchildren. This terrible disease seems to have become a curse for our family. "
Victoria began to blame herself deeply, believing that she had passed on the disease to her descendants. However, in the social environment of the time, the health of the royal family was a secret that could never be openly discussed. Victoria could only seek all possible cures in private, while trying to cover up the family's "stains".
At the same time, the presence of hemophilia has also brought great challenges to the marriage strategy of the royal family. Some European royal families are beginning to be wary of marrying into the British royal family, fearing that their offspring will inherit the disease as well. This was undoubtedly a serious blow to Albert's plan for "marriage bed politics".
Epilogue:
Queen Victoria's reign brought unprecedented prosperity to Britain, and her era was hailed as the pinnacle of the "empire on which the sun never sets". However, beneath this glorious façade lies the tragedy of a royal family.
Although Queen Victoria hated childbearing, she gave birth to nine children because of her love for her husband and her sense of duty to the country. While fulfilling their father's political ambitions, these children also spread a deadly genetic disease to the royal families of various European countries.
It can only be said that everything is cause and effect, and if the royal family had not carried out this "inhumane" blood plan in the first place, then it is very likely that the outcome would have changed. What do you think differently about this?
Resources:
[1] Zhou Ling. The story of the royal family's disease[J].Today's Science Garden,2013(12):75-77.
[1] Kensington Palace, Zhang Yinfei. Queen Victoria, Women and Kingship[J].Civilization,2020(07):32-49+6.
[1] Huo Xiang. The historical image of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom[D].Suzhou University of Science and Technology,2019.
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