Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a plan to use their nine children to unite Europe’s various monarchies into one big, happy family. Unfortunately for those royal houses, Queen Victoria herself appears to have spontaneously developed a gene mutation for the inherited clotting disorder hemophilia.
With son Leopold affected, and two of her daughters as unwitting carriers of the disease, royal houses in Spain, Germany, and Russia all found themselves navigating a new terrain where the potential male heir to a dynasty could be at risk every day – with especially dire results in Russia.
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I’m glad this podcast exists and enjoyed this episode, but you made a bit of science goof: people with XX chromosomes can have hemophilia, it’s just rare. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/hemophilia/features/women-and-hemophilia.html
Anyway, love the podcast and love the exploration of attitudes around contamination and genetic disease at the time.
Oops! Thanks for the correction!