Product Description

Queen Victoria's son, Prince Leopold, died from haemophilia, but no member of the royal family before his generation had suffered from the condition. Medically, there are only two possibiities: either one of Victoria's parents had a 1 in 50,000 random mutation, or Victoria was the illegitimate child of a haemophiliac man. However the haemophilia gene arose, it had a profound effect on history. Two of Victoria's daughters were silent carriers who passed the disease to the Spanish and Russian royal families. The disease played a role in the origin of the Spanish Civil War; and the tsarina's concern over her only son's haemophilia led to the entry of Rasputin into the royal household, contributing directly to the Russian revolution.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #280592 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 189 pages

Customer Reviews

A must for any history buff!
The life and times of the great Queen Victoria continues to hold an enormous fascination over people, both in Britain and worldwide. This book gives a clear and astounding account of Victoria's anticendants and descendants, and the effect of the haemophilia gene. This cruel disease, passed on to sons, and carried by mothers and daughters, caused a life of misery to the unfortunate male recipients. So what was the origin of the gene carried by Victoria? Two of her daughters, also carriers, spread the disease into the Royal families of Europe and Russia. Victoria's son Leopold suffered with the disease. Was it a one in 50,000 chance genetic mutation, or was Victoria fathered by a haemophiliac? This book will surprise and fascinate anyone who reads it - although I don't think Victoria herself would have been too 'amused'!

Dodgy stats
This book's most sensational claim is based on a gross statistical error. The authors contend that an affair with a haemophiliac man is a more likely source of the haemophilia mutation Queen Victoria passed on to her descendents than a new mutation. The persuasiveness of this claim lies in the tiny probability (1 in 50,000) of such a mutation arising in the general population. However, note that this probability applies to the general population, in which haemophilia cases are very rare (about 1 in 10,000 males). Given the knowledge that haemophilia has appeared in a family, the probability of having incurred a new haemophilia mutation is of course much higher. In fact about 1 in 4 haemophilia cases are due to a new mutation, so the less sensational explanation is 12,500 times more likely than claimed by the authors.

FASCINATING!
this is a really interesting book. i'm obsessed with all things romanov and this was quite informative about alexei's illness. but before that there is loads of stuff about which monarch had which mistress/es etc, and it all becomes a tad confusing sometimes! i learnt a load of stuff about the nature of haemophlia from it. despite the confusing bits, overall a pretty good book, i reckon.