Interfamily marriages: 1st cousins

[Principessa]

Infanta Eulalia of Spain, Duchess of Galliera (María Eulalia Francisca de Asís Margarita Roberta Isabel Francisca de Paula Cristina María de la Piedad) (12 February 1864 – 8 March 1958) was the youngest and last surviving child of Queen Isabella II of Spain and the youngest sister of King Alfonso XII.

Antonio Maria Luis Felipe Juan Florencio de Orleans y Borbón (23 February 1866 – 24 December 1930) was an Infante of Spain and the fourth Duke of Galliera in the Kingdom of Italy. He was a member of the Spanish Royal Family and a grandson of Louis-Philippe of France. Antonio was the only surviving son of Prince Antoine of Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and his wife Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Through his father, he was a grandson of King Louis Philippe of the French and his wife Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. Through his mother, he was a grandson of King Ferdinand VII of Spain and his wife Princess Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies.

On 6 March 1886, at Madrid, Eulalia married her first cousin Antonio. The wedding was delayed several months on account of the death of Eulalia's brother, King Alfonso XII. Eulalia and Antonio had two sons.

[Principessa]

Alfonso XII (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción Gregorio Pelayo)(28 November 1857 – 25 November 1885), also known as El Pacificador or the Peacemaker, was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885. After a revolution that deposed his mother Isabella II from the throne in 1868, Alfonso studied in Austria and France. His mother abdicated in his favour in 1870, and he returned to Spain as king in 1874 following a military coup against the First Republic. Alfonso died aged 27 in 1885, and was succeeded by his son, Alfonso XIII, who was born the following year.

María de las Mercedes of Orléans (24 June 1860 – 26 June 1878) was born at the Palacio Real in Madrid, the sixth of her parents' nine children, none of whom died in infancy but only four of whom would live to the age of 20. She was  the daughter of Antoine of Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and of Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Although Mercedes was patrilineally a French princess, she was also a Spanish infanta and spent the first eight years of her life in Spain.

On 23 January 1878 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his first cousin, Maria de las Mercedes, but she died within six months of the marriage. Shortly after their honeymoon, it became evident that Queen Mercedes suffered from typhoid fever. The marriage would last only six months, during which she reportedly had a miscarriage. She died from the typhus on 26 June 1878, at 18 years old

[Principessa]

Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta (Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni di Savoia-Aosta) (21 October 1898 – 3 March 1942) was the third Duke of Aosta and a first cousin, once removed of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. During World War II, he was the Italian Viceroy of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI). Amedeo was born in Turin, Piedmont, to Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son of Amadeo I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria), and Princess Hélène (daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans).


Princess Anne of Orléans (Anne Hélène Marie) (5 August 1906 – 19 March 1986) was a member of the House of Orléans. She was the daughter of Prince Jean, Duke of Guise, and Princess Isabelle of Orléans.

Princess Hélène and Princess Isabelle were sisters.

Anne married at Naples, Italy, on 5 November 1927, her first cousin  Amedeo. The couple had two daughters.

[Principessa]

Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné) (5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great (Louis le Grand) or the Sun King (le Roi Soleil), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in history.[1][a] Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the age of absolutism in Europe. Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné (Louis the God-given) and bore the traditional title of French heirs apparent: Dauphin. At the time of his birth, his parents had been married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631. Leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God.

Maria Theresa of Spain (Spanish: María Teresa de Austria; French: Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche)( 10 September 1638 – 30 July 1683), was by birth Infanta of Spain and Portugal (until 1640) and Archduchess of Austria as member of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg and by marriage Queen of France and Navarre. she was the daughter of Philip IV & III, and his wife Elisabeth of France, who died when Maria Theresa was six years old. As a member of the House of Austria, Maria Theresa was entitled to use the title Archduchess of Austria. She was known in Spain as María Teresa de Austria and in France as Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche. She was raised by the royal governess Luisa Magdalena de Jesus.


Her marriage in 1660 to King Louis XIV, her double first cousin, was made with the purpose of ending the lengthy war between France and Spain. Famed for her virtue and piety, she saw five of her six children die in early childhood, and is frequently viewed as an object of pity in historical accounts of her husband's reign, since she was often neglected by the court.


They were double first cousins as his father Louis XIII and her mother Elisabeth of France were brother and sister, as well as his mother Anna of Austria was the sister of Philip IV of Spain.

[Principessa]

Charles IV (Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno José Januario Serafín Diego)(11 November 1748 – 20 January 1819) was King of Spain and the Spanish Empire from 14 December 1788, until 19 March 1808. Charles was the second son of Charles III and his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony. He was born in Naples (11 November 1748), while his father was King of Naples and Sicily. His elder brother, Don Felipe, was passed over for both thrones, due to his learning disabilities and epilepsy. In Naples and Sicily, Charles was referred to as the Prince of Taranto. He was called El Cazador (meaning "the Hunter"), due to his preference for sport and hunting, rather than dealing with affairs of the state. Charles was considered by many to have been amiable, but simple-minded.In 1788, Charles III died and Charles IV succeeded to the throne, and ruled for the next two decades. Even though he had a profound belief in the sanctity of the monarchy, and kept up the appearance of an absolute, powerful king Charles never took more than a passive part in his own government.


Maria Luisa of Parma (Luisa Maria Teresa Anna)(9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was Queen consort of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. She was the youngest daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma, the fourth son of Philip V of Spain and Louise Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV. In 1765 she married Charles, Prince of Asturias, becoming queen when he ascended the throne in 1788.


Charles IV married his first cousin Maria Louisa, the daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma, in 1765. The couple had fourteen children, six of whom survived into adulthood

[Principessa]

Ferdinand VII (Spanish: Fernando; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was the King of Spain during the early- to mid-19th century. He reigned over the Spanish Kingdom in 1808 and again from 1813 to his death in 1833. He was known to his supporters as el Deseado (the Desired) and to his detractors as el Rey Felón (the Felon King).Ferdinand was the eldest surviving son of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. Ferdinand VII married 4x


Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (14 December 1784 – 21 May 1806), was the youngest daughter of Ferdinand, King of Naples and Sicily, and Maria Carolina of Austria.


Ferdinand VII married in 1802 his first cousin Princess Maria Antonia There were no children, because her two pregnancies (in 1804 and 1805) both ended in miscarriages.

[Principessa]

Carlos Luis de Borbón (31 January 1818 – 13 January 1861) was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Carlos VI after his father's renouncement in 1845, when he took the title of Conde de Montemolín (Count of Montemolín). Carlos was born at the Royal Palace in Madrid, the elder son of Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain and of his first wife, Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal. The Second Carlist War (1847–49) took place during his reign.

Princess Maria Carolina Ferdinanda of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (29 November 1820 – 14 January 1861) was a princess of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and an infanta of Spain through her marriage to Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin, Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Carlos VI. Maria Carolina was a daughter of Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain.

Carlos married on 10 July 1850 his 1st cousin Maria Carolina. They would have no children.

[Principessa]

Maria Isabella of Spain (María Isabel de Borbón y Borbón-Parma) (6 July 1789 – 13 September 1848) was an infanta of Spain. She was the youngest daughter of King Carlos IV of Spain and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma. María Isabel's birth coincided with the rise to power in Spain of her mother's favorite, Manuel Godoy. Court rumour attributed María Isabel's paternity not to the king, but to the young Godoy, who became Spain's prime minister in 1792.


Maria Clementina of Austria (24 April 1777 – 15 November 1801) was an Austrian archduchess and the tenth child and third daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Luisa of Spain.


Francis I of the Two Sicilies (Italian: Francesco Gennaro Giuseppe Saverio Giovanni Battista) (19 August 1777 – 8 November 1830) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1825 to 1830 and regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1806 to 1814. Francis was born the son of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and his wife Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria in Naples. He was also the nephew of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, the last King and Queen of France before the first French Republic. At the death of his older brother Carlo, Duke of Calabria, Francis became the heir-apparent to the throne and Duke of Calabria, the traditional title of the heir apparent to the Neapolitan throne.


In 1796 Francis married his double first cousin Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria, daughter of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor. When she died, he married his first cousin María Isabella, daughter of King Charles IV of Spain.


With his 1st wife he had 2 children, while with his 2nd wife he had 12 children.

[Principessa]

Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta (28 March 1841 – 26 May 1934) was the third son of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria.He was pretender to the throne of the Two Sicilies in succession of his older half-brother, Francis II of the Two Sicilies. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Ferdinand Pius.


Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (Maria Antonietta Giuseppina Leopoldina) (16 March 1851 – 12 September 1938) , was the eldest daughter of Prince Francis, Count of Trapani (son of Francis I of the Two Sicilies) and his wife (and niece) Archduchess Maria Isabella of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. She was an elder sister of Maria Carolina, Countess Andrzej Zamoyski

Alfonso was married to his 1st cousin, Maria Antonietta  on 8 June 1868. They had twelve children

[Principessa]

Prince Ranieri Maria Gaetano, Duke of Castro (3 December 1883 – 13 January 1973) was a claimant to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.He was born in Cannes, France the ninth child but fifth son of Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta and Princess Maria Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1851–1938).

Countess Maria Carolina Zamoyska (1896–1968) daughter of Princess Maria Carolina of the Two Sicilies (21 February 1856 – 7 April 1941) and  Count Andrzej Przemysław Zamoyski

Ranieri and his 1st cousin Maria Carolina married on 12 September 1923. The marriage resulted in 2 children.

[Principessa]

Prince Jean of Orléans, Duke of Guise (Jean Pierre Clément Marie) ( 4 September 1874 – 25 August 1940), was the third son and youngest child of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres (1840–1910), grandson of Prince Ferdinand Philippe and great-grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French. His mother was Françoise of Orléans, daughter of François, Prince of Joinville, and Princess Francisca of Brazil.Upon the death of his cousin and brother-in-law Philippe, Duke of Orléans, claimant to the throne of France as "Philip VIII", the Duke of Guise became, at least for his Orleanist and Unionist supporters, titular king of France as "Jean III". The title was disputed by members of the Spanish Anjou branch of the family, descended from Louis XIV of France.He was succeeded as claimant to the French throne by his only son, Henri d' Orléans, Count of Paris.

Princess Isabelle of Orléans (Isabelle Marie Laure Mercédès Ferdinande)( 7 May 1878 – 21 April 1961) was a member of the French Orleanist royal family and by marriage Duchess of Guise. Isabelle was born at the Château d'Eu, Eu , France, the third daughter and fifth child of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain. In 1886, when she was eight years old, a law was promulgated by the Third Republic that effectively exiled all dynasties who formerly ruled France, whereupon she and her family moved to England.


As a young woman, Isabelle had many suitors, chief among them being the future Albert I of Belgium. Albert, however, was forced to end the courtship under pressure from his uncle King Leopold II, who feared that a marriage to the daughter of an exiled pretender to the French throne would result in backlash from the republican government in Paris.

On 30 October 1899, Isabelle married her first cousin  Jean. The couple had four children.

[Principessa]

Prince Philippe of Orléans, Count of Paris (Louis Philippe Albert)(24 August 1838 – 8 September 1894), was disputedly King of the French from 24 to 26 February 1848 as Philippe VII, although he was never officially proclaimed as such. He was the grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French. He was the Count of Paris as Orléanist claimant to the French throne from 1848 until his death. He was the son of Prince Ferdinand Philippe of Orléans (3 September 1810 – 13 July 1842) and Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Helene Luise Elisabeth) (4 January 1814 – 17 May 1858). Prince Philippe became the Prince Royal, heir apparent to the throne, when his father, Prince Ferdinand-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, died in a carriage accident in 1842. Although there was some effort during the days after the abdication of his grandfather in 1848 to put him on the throne under the name of Louis-Philippe II, with his mother  as Regent, this came to nothing. They fled and the French Second Republic was proclaimed.

Marie Isabelle d’Orléans (María Isabel de Borbón) (1 September 1848 – 23 April 1919) was born an infanta of Spain and a Princess of Orléans. She was born in Seville to Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Antoine was the youngest son of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Infanta Luisa was the daughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain and her grandfather's fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. All four of her grandparents and seven of her eight great-grandparents were members of the French Royal House of Bourbon.


On May 30, 1864 at St. Raphael's Church in Kingston upon Thames, England Philippe married his paternal first cousin,  Marie Isabelle. They had eight children.

[Principessa]

Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium (18 October 1872 – 6 January 1958) was the youngest daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. She was an older sister of Albert I of Belgium.

Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen(German: Karl Anton Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Prinz von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) (1 September 1868 – 21 February 1919) was a member of the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.[citation needed] Karl Anton was the third and youngest son[citation needed] of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and his wife Infanta Antónia of Portugal.[citation needed] Karl Anton's elder brothers were William, Prince of Hohenzollern and Ferdinand I of Romania

Joséphine Caroline married her maternal first cousin  Karl Anton  on 28 May 1894 in Brussels.They had 4 children.

[Principessa]

Not a marriage but a (failed) engagement:


Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm) (25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or der Märchenkönig ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, and Duke in Swabia. He was the elder son of Maximilian II of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia, Crown Prince and Princess of Bavaria, who became King and Queen in 1848 after the abdication of the former's father, Ludwig I, during the German Revolution. His parents intended to name him Otto, but his grandfather insisted that his grandson be named after him, since their common birthday, 25 August, is the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France, patron saint of Bavaria (with "Ludwig" being the German form of "Louis"). His full name was Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; English: Louis Otto Frederick William. His younger brother, born three years later, was named Otto. Like many young heirs in an age when kings governed most of Europe, Ludwig was continually reminded of his royal status. King Maximilian wanted to instruct both of his sons in the burdens of royal duty from an early age. Ludwig was both extremely indulged and severely controlled by his tutors and subjected to a strict regimen of study and exercise. Some point to these stresses of growing up in a royal family as the causes for much of his odd behavior as an adult. Ludwig was not close to either of his parents. As an adolescent, Ludwig became close friends with his aide de camp, Prince Paul, a member of the wealthy Bavarian Thurn und Taxis family. The two young men rode together, read poetry aloud, and staged scenes from the Romantic operas of Richard Wagner. The friendship ended when Paul became engaged in 1866 with a commoner. During his youth, Ludwig also initiated a lifelong friendship with his cousin Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, later Empress of Austria. Crown Prince Ludwig was in his 19th year when his father died after a three-day illness, and he ascended the Bavarian throne. Although he was not prepared for high office, his youth and brooding good looks made him popular in Bavaria and elsewhere.He continued the state policies of his father and retained his ministers. Ludwig was intensely interested in the operas of Richard Wagner.  But then Ludwig was brought down by conspirators, who claimed his mental health was bad. The degree to which these accusations were accurate may never be known. A team of psychiatrists diagnosed Ludwig with paranoia. Today, the claim of paranoia is not considered correct; Ludwig's behavior is rather interpreted as a schizotypal personality disorder and he may also have suffered from Pick's disease during his last years, an assumption supported by a frontotemporal lobar degeneration mentioned in the autopsy report.) Ludwig's only younger brother and successor, Otto, was considered insane, providing a convenient basis for the claim of hereditary insanity. At 4 am on 10 June 1886, a government commission including Holnstein and Gudden arrived at Neuschwanstein to deliver the document of deposition to the King formally and to place him in custody.That same day, the government under Minister-President Johann von Lutz publicly proclaimed Luitpold as Prince Regent. Eventually, the king decided he would try to escape, but he was too late. In the early hours of 12 June, a second commission arrived. The King was seized just after midnight and at 4 am was taken to a waiting carriage. On the afternoon of the next day, 13 June 1886, Dr. Gudden accompanied Ludwig on a stroll in the grounds of Berg Castle. They were escorted by two attendants. On their return, Gudden expressed optimism to other doctors concerning the treatment of his royal patient. Following dinner, at around 6 pm, Ludwig asked Gudden to accompany him on a further walk, this time through the Schloß Berg parkland along the shore of Lake Starnberg. Gudden agreed; the walk may even have been his suggestion, and he told the aides not to join them. His words were ambiguous (Es darf kein Pfleger mitgehen, "No attendant may come with [us]") and whether they were meant to follow at a discreet distance is not clear. The two men were last seen at about 6:30 pm; they were due back at 8 pm, but never returned. After searches were made for more than two hours by the entire castle staff in a gale with heavy rain, at 10:30 pm that night, the bodies of both the King and von Gudden were found, head and shoulders above the shallow water near the shore. The King's watch had stopped at 6:54. Gendarmes patrolling the park had neither seen nor heard anything unusual.Ludwig's death was officially ruled a suicide by drowning, but the official autopsy report indicated that no water was found in his lungs. Ludwig was a very strong swimmer in his youth, the water was approximately waist deep where his body was found, and he had not expressed suicidal feelings during the crisis. Gudden's body showed blows to the head and neck and signs of strangulation, leading to the suspicion that he was strangled, although no other evidence was found to prove this.Speculation exists that Ludwig was murdered by his enemies while attempting to escape from Berg. One account suggests that the king was shot.Another theory suggests that Ludwig died of natural causes (such as a heart attack or stroke) brought on by the cool water (12 °C) of the lake during an escape attempt.


Duchess Sophie Charlotte Augustine in Bavaria (23 February 1847 – 4 May 1897) was a granddaughter-in-law of King Louis Philippe of France, the favourite sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Sophie Charlotte was born at the Possenhofen Castle, the residence of her paternal family, Dukes in Bavaria. She was a daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria (1808–1888) and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. The ninth of ten children born to her parents, she was known as Sopherl within the family.


The greatest stress of Ludwig's early reign was pressure to produce an heir. This issue came to the forefront in 1867. Ludwig became engaged to Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, his 1st cousin and the youngest sister of his dear friend, Empress Elisabeth of Austria. They shared a deep interest in the works of Wagner. The engagement was announced on 22 January 1867; a few days earlier, Ludwig had written Sophie, "The main substance of our relationship has always been Richard Wagner's remarkable and deeply moving destiny."

However, Ludwig repeatedly postponed the wedding date, and finally cancelled the engagement in October. After the engagement was broken off, Ludwig wrote to his former fiancée, "My beloved Elsa! Your cruel father has torn us apart. Eternally yours, Heinrich." (The names Elsa and Heinrich came from characters in Wagner's opera Lohengrin.) Sophie later married Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, grandson of French King Louis Philippe I, at Possenhofen Castle at which Ludwig II unexpectedly attended the reception.

Ludwig never married nor had any known mistresses. It is known from his diary (which began in the 1860s), private letters, and other surviving personal documents that he had strong homosexual desires. He struggled all his life to suppress those desires and remain true to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Homosexuality had not been punishable in Bavaria since 1813, but the Unification of Germany in 1871 instated Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexual acts between males under Prussian hegemony. In intensely Catholic and socially conservative 19th-century Bavaria, the scandal of a homosexual monarch would have been intolerable.

Throughout his reign, Ludwig had a succession of close friendships with men, including his chief equerry and master of the horse, Richard Hornig (1841–1911), the Bavarian prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis, the Hungarian theater actor Josef Kainz, and his courtier Alfons Weber (b. 1862).

[Principessa]

Princess Sophie of the Netherlands (Wilhelmine Marie Sophie Louise)(8 April 1824 – 23 March 1897) was the only daughter and last surviving child of King Willem II of the Netherlands and of his wife Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. She was heir presumptive to her niece, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, for seven years, from the death of her brother until her own death.Princess Sophie married her first cousin, Charles Alexander, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, at Kneuterdijk Palace in The Hague on 8 October 1842. Their mothers were sisters, and daughters of Tsar Paul I of Russia.They had four children