Queen Victoria and the Royal Disease

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who reigned from 1837 to 1901, left an indelible mark on world history—not only through her political influence and the era that bears her name but also through a genetic condition that came to be known as the “Royal Disease”: hemophilia.

What is hemophilia?

Hemophilia is a rare, inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood doesn’t clot properly. This can lead to spontaneous bleeding as well as prolonged bleeding after injury or surgery. The most common types are Hemophilia A (deficiency in clotting factor VIII) and Hemophilia B (deficiency in factor IX). Both are X-linked recessive conditions, meaning the faulty gene is located on the X chromosome.

Men, who have only one X chromosome, are more likely to be affected, while women, with two X chromosomes, are typically carriers and usually do not exhibit severe symptoms.

Queen Victoria: the unexpected carrier

Historians and geneticists believe that Queen Victoria was a carrier of Hemophilia B. Interestingly, there were no known cases of hemophilia in her ancestors, which suggests the mutation may have spontaneously arisen in her.

She passed the gene to several of her children, which allowed the disorder to spread through royal families across Europe due to intermarriage among royalty. Three of her nine children inherited the gene and became carriers or passed it on to the next generation.

The royal legacy of hemophilia

The most famous case was Victoria’s son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, who suffered from hemophilia and died at the age of 30 after a fall that caused cerebral hemorrhaging. Victoria’s daughters Alice and Beatrice were also carriers, and through them, the gene spread to the royal families of Germany, Russia, and Spain.

Perhaps the most tragic case was Alexei Romanov, the son of Tsar Nicholas II and Alix of Hesse (a granddaughter of Queen Victoria). As the heir to the Russian throne, Alexei’s hemophilia had a profound effect on Russian history. His illness led his mother to seek help from the mystic Rasputin, whose influence over the royal family fueled political instability, contributing to the fall of the Romanov dynasty during the Russian Revolution.

The scientific and historical impact

Queen Victoria’s role in the spread of hemophilia has provided a well-documented case study for geneticists. Her descendants helped researchers understand the inheritance patterns of X-linked diseases, long before the discovery of DNA.

Modern genetic testing now allows carriers to be identified and the condition to be managed more effectively, but the historical impact of hemophilia remains a striking example of how a single genetic mutation can influence the course of nations.