Queen Victoria's Gene

Queen Victoria's Gene by Potts, D. M.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780750908689.

Queen Victorias Gene is the first extended scientific examination of the history of haemophilia in the royal families of Europe. The book asks where the disease came from and what effect it had on history, and in so doing it presents some startling new perspectives. Queen Victorias son, Prince Leopold, died from haemophilia, but no member of the royal family before his generation had suffered from this very visible condition. Medically, there are only two possibilities: either one of Victorias 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 Victorias 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 tsarinas concern over her only sons haemophilia led to the entry of Rasputin into the royal household, contributing directly to the Russian Revolution. Finally, if Queen Victoria was illegitimate, who should have inherited the British throne? The answer is astonishing.