The fact that Queen Victoria was the first member of the British royal family afflicted with hemophilia (Mark help me out here) has given rise to questions about how she developed the disease.

 

    Her father,Edward,Duke of Kent,fourth son of George III, was not a hemophilic, nor was her husband, Prince Albert. Although Edward did not marry until after the age of 50 and his only child, Victoria, was born a year later, the advanced age of the father has sometimes affected the onset of the disease. The only other reason was that Victoria was not the daughter of Edward.

 

    George III has nine sons, none of them seemed able to produce a legitimate heir to the throne. A number of them had as many as ten childern but they were all illegitimate. George IV had a number of misstresses and only one legitimate child a daughter Charlotte, who died in childbirth in 1817.

 

    Upon the death of George IV his brother William, Duke of Clarence, succeeded to the throne and reigned as William IV. William had ten childern by the actress Dorothea Bland, better known by her stage name of, Mrs. Jordan. None of these could inherit the throne. In the race to produce an heir William married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen who was half his age but the union produced only two short-lived daughters.

 

        Edward, Duke of Kent, George III fourth son, married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld ,she was 32 he 51,and had a daughter Victoria. Because all the other sons of George III were unable to produce legitimate childern Victoria became heir presumptive. In the scramble to produce an heir and secure the seccession could the child Victoria have been fathered by someone else?

    As stated Victoria was the first known member of the British royal family to have contracted hemophilia, her father had no signs of the illness, and the only other ways she could have gotten it were thru spontanous mutation of her genes or by being the child of a hemophilic father. Studies show that about 30% of hemophilia victims get the disease through spontanous mutation and that is what most scholars think happened with Victoria. Still, with three or four royal princes at odds with their father, and all eager to secure the royal line for themselves and their childern, nothing should be left to chance. What do you think?