queen elizabeth queen victoria family tree

Interestingly, both Elizabeth's father, George VI, and grandfather, George V, came to the throne unexpectedly, being the second of their fathers's sons. In 2015, she surpassed Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch in history, and this year, becomes the country's first ever to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. Directly descended from Edward VII, Queen Elizabeth is Victoria's great-great granddaughter.

Here is how their genetic legacy has shaped the royal families of Europe.The most obvious of Queen Victoria's descendants is, naturally, the current queen of England. Though he died at age 42 from what many scholars now believe to have been stomach cancer, his values carried down through many of the European royal lines through his children and grandchildren with Victoria.Īfter Albert died in 1861, Victoria remained in mourning for the remaining 40 years of her life, becoming the longest reigning monarch in British history until her great-great granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Albert and Queen Victoria in 1854.Īlbert likewise played an active role in his children’s lives, seeking to mold their family into an example to the world of what royal families should be. An intellectually driven man-Albert prescribed himself an educational regiment requiring nine hours of study a day during his teen years-he not only served as regent during his wife’s nine pregnancies, he also had a significant role in encouraging scientific and technological innovation, and even helped organize the Great Exhibition in 1851. Though Albert had no official state powers as Prince Consort, he nonetheless had a major impact on the monarchy. In 1840, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with whom she had a famously passionate connection. Just a month after her 18th birthday, the petite princess (she was barely five feet tall) became queen following the death of her uncle, King William IV. The daughter of Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent-fourth son of King George III-and German widow Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Victoria was the result of a succession crisis that left her as the only legitimate heir to the throne. After all, with nine children, 42 grandchildren, and 87 great-grandchildren, she more than earned the title 'the grandmother of Europe.'īorn on May 24, 1819, Alexandrina Victoria was quite literally born to be queen.

And while many effects of her rule are still present in modern society, perhaps one of the most obvious remains the impact of her massive family tree on the current monarchies of Europe.

Over the course of her 63 year reign, Queen Victoria made an indelible impact not only on Britain, but on the world.

Queen elizabeth queen victoria family tree