Europe's royal houses have shared close family ties for centuries. The British royals have more German roots than you might think. About 300 years ago, on August 12, 1712, the German Elector George Ludwig of Hanover was proclaimed King George I of England in absentia. He was the only possible heir to the throne and the first German to ascend an English throne.
Manners, please
At the beginning, his British subjects were not amused. The German king did not set foot on English soil until two years after his proclamation and was crowned in October 1714. A divorcee, he publicly flirted with two mistresses. George hardly spoke any English -- and he had no manners. In fact, legend has it a protocol instruction for banquets asked to not hurl pieces of meat at the servants.
However, the British soon realized that George I did a great deal for the kingdom -- he put down two Scottish uprisings, established the two-party system that is still in place today, created a well-functioning navy and expanded the British Empire.
George II and George III
His son George II left the British their national anthem"God Save The King," which later became "God Save The Queen." His son George III was the first in the line of the German kings to be born in England, and English was his first language. He married the German Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The couple had 15 children.
George III suffered from a metabolic disorder, his health deteriorated and he became mentally ill, making the popular monarch, who supported the arts and sciences, increasingly incapable of ruling. He is most remembered as "Mad King George."
George IV, a low point for the royal family's reputation
His eldest son, foppish Georg August Friedrich, took over during his father's lifetime in 1820. A year later, he was crowned George IV, the next king with a predominantly German bloodline.
His extravagant lifestyle did not endear him to his subjects. The obese monarch was known as the fat king and he was not mourned much when he died because his extravagance and eccentricity had managed to severely damage the reputation of the royal house. He left behind no particular political legacy, but a cultural one: Buckingham House was expanded into a palace and a building was erected in the seaside resort of Brighton that is still unique in Europe in terms of opulence -- the Royal Pavilion.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Next on the throne was George IV's niece Victoria, who also had a partly German bloodline. She was crowned in 1837, and married her cousin, the German Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Initially, the British wondered why their queen would choose a provincial German prince, but they soon changed their minds.
Albert stood up for the people and allegedly initiated the German custom of putting up Christmas trees in England. He established the first World's Fair, in London in 1851, and reformed administration and construction in the kingdom. Also thanks to the Queen's consort, the British royal family regained its reputation. A magnificent statue of Albert stands in the center of London, Albert Bridge in London was named after him, as was the famous Royal Albert Hall concert hall.
'Grandmother of Europe'
Meanwhile, Queen Victoria carried out representative functions in addition to her role as mother of nine children. Her influence in foreign policy was primarily grounded in her kinship relations with the leading ruling houses of Europe.
She made sure her children married into other European royal courts -- little wonder that today her descendants sit on the throne in many European royal houses, including Queen Margrethe of Denmark, Kings Harald of Norway and Carl Gustav of Sweden, the former Spanish royal couple Juan Carlos and Sophia, all the way to Elizabeth II. Victoria was nicknamed the "Grandmother of Europe" and at the time, with 64 years on the throne, she was Britain's longest-serving monarch. 120 years later, she was surpassed by her great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth II.
Saxe-Anhalt renamed Windsor
Queen Victoria died in 1901, succeeded by her eldest son Edward VII, the first English king from the German dynasty of Sachsen-Anhalt and Gotha. To make the name easier to pronounce for the English, the house was renamed Saxe-Anhalt and Gotha. Just a few years later, in 1910, his son George V, who was married to the German-born Maria von Teck -- "Queen Mary" -- became king.
His reign coincided with the First World War, waged against his cousin, German emperor Wilhelm II. In England, attitudes toward all things German changed -- after all, the German Empire was seen as the main aggressor. In 1917, George V decided to change the German family name to Windsor. George also renounced all German titles, as did his cousin Ludwig von Battenberg, who renamed his family Mountbatten. Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip was Louis Battenberg's nephew.
The royals and the Nazis
George's son Edward VIII became king in 1936. He abdicated for love and married Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee. His brother Albert ascended the British throne as George VI. At the time, the Nazis and Adolf Hitler had long since gained a firm grip on Germany, the world watching the Third Reich with skepticism and interest. Edward and Albert's mother, Queen Mary, insisted that her sons not forget their German roots. They also had plenty of relatives in Hitler's Germany. Edward openly showed sympathy for the Nazis. One photo shows him and his wife smiling and shaking hands with Adolf Hitler.
Just a few years ago, a video emerged that showed Edward and his sister-in-law practicing the Hitler salute with two little girls -- Margaret and Elizabeth, who would one day be the Queen of England. The snippet was filmed by Elizabeth's father, King George VI. To this day, the British do not like to be reminded of the at times cordial relations of the British aristocracy with the German Nazis, trying as much as possible to keep evidence of such connections under wraps.
How German is King Charles III?
Queen Elizabeth's mother was British, so she was only partly of German descent, even if she did display some German virtues throughout her life, including discipline and a sense of duty. Her husband Philip, however, had predominantly German ancestors. After the marriage, Philip, who spoke fluent German, dropped his German nobility title "von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg" for the simple Mountbatten. Their eldest son, the new King Charles III, has a bloodline made up of roughly half German ancestors.
He and his first wife, the British Diana Spencer, had two sons, William and Harry. Prince William's wife Kate has no German ancestors at all; Harry's wife Meghan is the daughter of an American with Irish roots and is said to have German ancestors.
It is extremely unlikely that a person of German descent will ever again ascend the English throne -- even if there still is a direct German descendant whose lineage goes back to George I, the first British king from Germany. Her name is Karin Vogel, and she is 4973rd in line to the British throne.
This article was originally written in German.
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