bob bobato
L'imparfait
Is queen Elizabeth II, of The UK..., descended from the Byzantine Emperors?
Is The queen related to the byzantine emperors?
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Xanikk999
History junkie
Ummm.. No.
While royalty in europe did "mingle" and "breed" with eachother, i think the byzantines were not a part of that.
Western europe was not on good terms with the byzantines for much of the middle ages.
And after the middle ages constantinople was under turkish control so their would be no chance in hell of a sultan marrying western european royalty.
While royalty in europe did "mingle" and "breed" with eachother, i think the byzantines were not a part of that.
Western europe was not on good terms with the byzantines for much of the middle ages.
And after the middle ages constantinople was under turkish control so their would be no chance in hell of a sultan marrying western european royalty.
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
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In the early middle ages it was not uncommon for byzantine princesses to marry european kings, including several emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, I believe. But most of those family lines are supposed to have been extinguished.
I'm sorry, but this is possibly the daftest question I've ever seen asked on this forum. Why the hell would the Queen be related to the Byzantines?
By the way, bob, she's the Queen of Canada just as much as she is of the UK, you know...
By the way, bob, she's the Queen of Canada just as much as she is of the UK, you know...
Leifmk
Deity
I don't know about that. Children and grandchildren of Eastern emperors were handed out like party favours for centuries. By the time Byzantium fell there were lots and lots of royals and nobles throughout Europe with some Byzantine royal ancestry.
Enkidu Warrior
Ultramagnetic
Come on, that's a bit harsh. The Queen is related to most of the other European Royal families, why not? I'm sure we've had any number of crackpot questions in this hallowed forum that were dafter than this.
Heretic_Cata
We're gonna live forever
Curiosity.
I don't think there is a connetion between them. Byzantines - Orthodox; Western Europe - Catholic/Protestant. I bet that made marriages quite difficult. And i doubt that if a member of the royal byzantine family would convert for marriage he/she wouldn't have been disgraced or smthing.
I don't think pre-schism times are an issue. Who is the earliest ancestor of the current royal family ?
I'm no expert, so don't quote me on that.
Leifmk
Deity
Well, your bet is wrong since there were lots and lots of royal/noble marriages back and forth. Any cursory search of any royal genealogy site you care to google up (or even wikipedia) will find them in droves.
It was a lot harder for Byzantine royals to marry westerners than it was for western royals to marry each other, partly for religious reasons. There were plans for the empress Irene to marry Charlemagne, but they fell through because there was no way the Byzantine aristocracy were going to allow a western barbarian onto the throne: Irene was deposed and the plan fell through.
It just seemed such an out-of-nowhere question. Why Byzantium in particular?
As for who the earliest ancestor of the royal family is, no doubt the same as for the rest of us - a bunch of semi-erect chinless hairy creatures from the Rift Valley a few million years ago. The difference is that most of us have advanced a bit since then, but the royal family haven't...
It just seemed such an out-of-nowhere question. Why Byzantium in particular?
As for who the earliest ancestor of the royal family is, no doubt the same as for the rest of us - a bunch of semi-erect chinless hairy creatures from the Rift Valley a few million years ago. The difference is that most of us have advanced a bit since then, but the royal family haven't...
sydhe
King of Kongs
I'd guess there's about a 100% percent chance the answer is yes. There were a lot of Byzantine emperors, they held onto part of Italy for a long time. If some of the Italian princes married decendants of Byzantine emperors, their blood would have found its way into the French and Spanish royal families, thence to England. Alternatively, they would have married into the noble families of the Holy Roman Empire, become ancestors of German princes, and got into the English royal family that way. All you really need is for Byzantine princesses to marry into the Medici family.
Now tracing a particular line of descent is another matter.
Now tracing a particular line of descent is another matter.
Mongoloid Cow
Great Khan
All European royalty is supposed to be descended from him, but I don't think every European is.
On a related topic, there are millions and millions of descendents of Genghis Khan around. I read a story once how people in Pakistan are actively trying to prove their descent from him because it makes them nobility or some such.
FriendlyFire
Codex WMDicanious
1 in 5 (He had a lot of women, wives, slaves)
biggamer132
King
They conducted some DNA tests on an episode of Digging for the Truth (a show on the History Channel here in the U.S.) and one of the scientists estimated that 8% of the people living in the modern-day boundaries of Chinggis Khan's empire are descended from him.
bob bobato
L'imparfait
I was wondering 'cause i read somewhere that an niece of the last byzantine emperor married a russian tsar. And that the queen's great-great-whatever was related to the tsars. Just wasn't sure if it was the same family.
Mongoloid Cow
Great Khan
Queen Alexandra was a sister of Empress Daghma. They were both daughters of the King of Denmark. Sorry, no Byzantine connection through there.
Verbose
Deity
"Dagmar" I think.
(My best Besserwisser-fascist-style.)
Their father was Christian IX of Denmark, aka "The father in-law of Europe".
sydhe
King of Kongs
It's likely all Europeans are from Confucius and quite possibly everyone in the world. His genes got into Europe through the Huns, whose leaders married Chinese royal princesses. I can't see that this has done much for the collective intelligence of mankind.
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