From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of prominent individuals who have been romantically or maritally coupled with a cousin, niece, nephew, aunt or uncle.

In April 2002, the Journal of Genetic Counseling released a report which estimated the average risk of birth defects in a child born of first cousins at 1.7-2.8% over an average base risk for non-cousin couples of 3%, or about the same as that of any woman over age 40.^[1] In terms of mortality, a 1994 study found a mean excess pre-reproductive mortality rate of 4.4%,^[2] while another study published in 2009 suggests the rate may be closer to 3.5%.^[3] Put differently, first-cousin marriage entails a similar increased risk of birth defects and mortality as a woman faces when she gives birth at age 41 rather than at 30.^[4] Critics argue that banning first-cousin marriages would make as much sense as trying to ban childbearing by older women. It should be noted that after repeated generations of cousin marriage, the actual genetic relationship between two people is closer than the most immediate relationship would suggest. In Pakistan, where there has been cousin marriage for generations and the current rate may exceed 50%, it was estimated that infant mortality was 12.7 percent for married double first cousins, 7.9 percent for first cousins, 9.2 percent for first cousins once removed/double second cousins, 6.9 percent for second cousins, and 5.1 percent among nonconsanguineous progeny. Among double first cousin progeny, 41.2 percent of prereproductive deaths were associated with the expression of detrimental recessive genes, with equivalent values of 26.0, 14.9, and 8.1 percent for first cousins, first cousins once removed/double second cousins, and second cousins respectively.^[5]

Because many people regard cousin couplings as taboo, they mistakenly assume that an infrequent presence of coupled cousins in a lineage means that the descendants must have one or more genetic diseases. The risk of such diseases does rise, however, when a lineage includes many cousin couplings.

Royalty

Europe

The royal couples listed here are but a small representation of the innumerable cousins of varying degrees who have married between royal or noble houses. Due to the constitutional interest that their marital status raises, their bloodlines are better known than the commoners' ones.

Isabella

Mary, Queen of Scots

Catherine II

Marie Antoinette

Napoleon III

Victor Emmanuel II

Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Tsar Nicholas II

Carol II

Kamehameha the Great

Kamehameha IV

Queen Emma

Guangxu Emperor

Prince Shōtoku

• Prince Alexander of Teck and his second cousin once removed, Princess Alice of Albany
• Alfonso XII of Spain and his first cousin, Mercedes of Orléans (first wife)
• Amedeo I of Spain and his niece, Maria Letizia Bonaparte (second wife)
• Prince Arthur of Connaught and his first cousin once removed, Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
• Benedita, Dowager Princess of Brazil, and her nephew, José, Prince of Brazil
• Infante Carlos, Count of Molina, and his niece, Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal, and later his niece, Maria Teresa of Portugal
• Carol II of Romania and his second cousin, Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark ^[6]
• Catherine the Great and her second cousin, Peter III of Russia
• Charles II of Parma and his second cousin, Maria Teresa of Savoy
• Charles III of Parma and his second cousin, Louise Marie Thérèse of France
• Charles I of Spain and his first cousin, Isabella of Portugal
• Charles IV of Spain and his first cousin, Maria Luisa of Parma
• Charles VII of France and his second cousin, Marie of Anjou
• Charles X of France and his double-second cousin, once removed, Marie Thérèse of Savoy
• Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and Catherine Michelle of Spain, who was his first cousin, once removed, as well as his second cousin
• Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy and his double second cousin, once removed, Marie Clotilde of France
• Charles Felix of Sardinia and his first cousin, once removed, Maria Christina of Bourbon-Naples
• Emperor Claudius and his third wife and cousin, Messalina
• Constantine II of Greece and his third cousin, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
• Edward III of England and his second cousin, Philippa of Hainault
• Edward, the Black Prince and his cousin, Joan of Kent
• Queen Elizabeth II and her second cousin, once removed (through Christian IX of Denmark), as well as third cousin (through Queen Victoria), Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and his half-first cousin, once removed, Margaret of France
• Ernest Augustus I of Hanover and his first cousin, Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
• Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and his second cousin, Maria Anna of Sardinia
• Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, and his niece, Anne Juliana Gonzaga
• Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and his second cousin, Maria Christina of Savoy (first wife)
• Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and his second cousin, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (second wife)
• Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his double first cousin, Princess Luisa of the Two Sicilies
• Ferdinand VII of Spain and his first cousin, Maria Antonietta of Naples (first wife)
• Ferdinand VII of Spain and his niece Maria Isabel of Portugal, and later his niece Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies
• Francis I of France and his second cousin, Queen Claude of France
• Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his double first cousin, Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria (first wife)
• Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his first cousin, Maria Isabella of Spain (second wife)
• Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, and his double first cousin, Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily (second wife)
• Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, and his first cousin, Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este (third wife)
• Francis IV, Duke of Modena, and his niece, Maria Beatrice of Savoy (titular queen of England and Scotland according to the Jacobite succession)
• Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and his first cousin, Empress Sissi
• Frederick VI of Denmark and his first cousin, Marie Sophie of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)
• Frederick William I of Prussia and his first cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
• Frederick William II of Prussia and his double first cousin, Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg
• King George I of Great Britain and his first cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Celle
• King George IV of the United Kingdom and his first cousin, Caroline of Brunswick
• King Haakon VII of Norway and his first cousin, Princess Maud of Wales
• Henrietta Anne Stuart of England and her first cousin, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
• Henry II of England and his half third cousin, Eleanor of Aquitaine
• Henry IV of France and his second cousin, Marguerite of Valois (first wife)
• Henry VI of England and his third cousin, Margaret of Anjou
• Henry VII of England and his third cousin, Elizabeth of York
• Princess Irene of Hesse and the Rhine and her first cousin, Henry of Prussia
• Isabella I of Castile and her second cousin, Ferdinand of Aragon
• Isabella II of Spain and her double first cousin, Francis of Spain
• James IV of Scotland and his third cousin, Margaret Tudor
• Joan of Spain and her double first cousin, John, Crown Prince of Portugal
• Juan Carlos I of Spain and his third cousin, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark
• Leonidas, King of Sparta and his half-niece, Gorgo^[7]
• Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Margaret Theresa of Spain (first wife), who was both his niece and his first cousin
• Leopold II of Tuscany and his second cousin, Maria Anna of Saxony (first wife)
• Leopold II of Tuscany and his first cousin, Marie Antoinette of the Two Sicilies (second wife)
• Louis XIV of France and his double first cousin, Maria Theresa of Spain
• Louis XVI of France and his second cousin, once removed, Marie Antoinette
• Louis XVIII of France and his double second cousin, once removed, Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy
• Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France and her first cousin, Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême
• Mary I of England and her first cousin, once removed, Philip II of Spain
• Princess Mary of Teck (later Queen Mary) and her second cousin, once removed, King George V
• Mary, Queen of Scots, and her half-first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
• Maximilian I of Mexico and his second cousin, Charlotte of Belgium
• Michael I of Romania and his second cousin, once removed, Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parme
• Miguel, Duke of Braganza, and his frist cousin, Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
• Napoleon Louis Bonaparte and his first cousin, Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte
• Tsar Nicholas II and his second cousin, Alix of Hesse
• King Olav V of Norway and his first cousin, Princess Märtha of Sweden
• Peter III of Portugal and his niece, Maria I of Portugal
• Philip II of Spain and his double first cousin, Maria Manuela, Princess of Asturias (first wife)
• Philip II of Spain and his niece, Anna of Austria (fourth wife)
• Philip IV of Spain and his niece, Mariana of Austria (second wife)
• Philip V of Spain and his double second cousin, Maria Luisa of Savoy (first wife)
• Philippe, comte de Paris, and his first cousin, Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans
• Robert I, Duke of Parma, and his half first cousin once removed, Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
• Umberto I of Italy and his first cousin, Margherita of Savoy
• Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and his first cousin, Maria Adelaide of Austria
• Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and her first cousin, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and later her first cousin, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia
• Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine and her first cousin, once removed, Prince Louis of Battenberg
• Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her first cousin, Prince Albert
• Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, and his first cousin, Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
• Kaiser Wilhelm II, and his half second cousin, Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
• King William I of the Netherlands and his first cousin, Wilhelmine of Prussia
• King William III of the Netherlands and his first cousin, Sophie of Württemberg
• King William III of England and his first cousin, Queen Mary II

Outside Europe

• King Darius I of Persia and his third cousin, Atossa
• Emperor Ichijō of Japan and his wife Fujiwara no Akiko
• Emperor Kōbun of Japan and Empress Tōchi
• King Kamehameha the Great of Hawaiʻi and his niece Queen Keopuolani
• Alexander Liholiho King Kamehameha IV of Hawaiʻi and his second cousin, Queen Emma Kaleleonalani Naʻea
• Prince Nagaya of Japan and his wife Princess Kibi
• Prince Shōtoku of Japan and his wife Princess Uji no Kaitako
• Zaitian, the Guangxu Emperor and his first cousin, Yehenara Jingfen
• Crown Prince Hirohito of Japan and his distant cousin Princess Nagako of Kuni

Notable commoners

Bach

von Braun

Darwin

Einstein

Malthus

Ōtomo no Yakamochi

Poe

Prus

Rachmaninoff

Ray

Roosevelt

Stravinsky

Voltaire (Arouet)

Wells

A

• John Adams and his third cousin, Abigail Smith^[8]
• François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, and his niece, Marie Louise Mignot Denis ^[9]

B

• Johann Sebastian Bach and his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach ^[10]
• Josiah Bartlett, second signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin, Mary Bartlett^{[citation needed]}
• Wernher von Braun and his first cousin, Maria Luise von Quistorp^{[citation needed]}
• Charles Bulfinch and his first cousin, Hannah Apthorp ^[11]

C

• John C. Calhoun, seventh Vice President of the United States, and his first cousin once removed, Floride Calhoun^[12]
• Jeanne Calment, the oldest person whose age was verified by official documents, and her second cousin, Fernand Calment ^[13]
• Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Roman Catholic signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and his second cousin, Mary Darnall ^[14]

D

• Charles Darwin and his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood.^[15] In addition, their grandparents, Sarah Wedgewood and Josiah Wedgwood, were also cousins.^[16]
• Porfirio Diaz Mori, president of Mexico (1876–80, 1884–1911), and his niece Delfina Ortega Diaz^{[citation needed]}
• Alfred I. du Pont, great-grandson of DuPont founder and his cousin-by-marriage, Bessie Gardner, as well as his second cousin, Alicia Bradford Maddox^[17]

E

• Albert Einstein and his first cousin (through his mother) as well as second cousin (through his father), Elsa Löwenthal née Einstein^[18]
• William Ellery, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin once removed, Abigail Cary^[19]
• William Crowninshield Endicott, former US Secretary of War, and his first cousin, Ellen Peabody^[20]

F

• Vivian Fuchs, British explorer, and his cousin Joyce Connell^{[citation needed]}
• John F. Fitzgerald, former mayor of Boston and grandfather of John F. Kennedy, and his second cousin Mary Josephine Hannon.^[21]

G

• Carlo Gambino, a mob boss, and his first cousin, Catherine Castellano^[22]
• André Gide, Nobel Prize winning French author, and his cousin, Madeleine Rondeaux.^{[citation needed]}
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American author, and her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman^[23]
• Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, and his second cousin once removed, Regina Peruggi^[24]
• Duncan Grant, a famous Scottish painter, who was in a relationship with his male cousin, the English writer Lytton Strachey.^[25]
• Edvard Grieg, famous Norwegian composer, and his first cousin, Nina Hagerup^[26]
• Abdullah Gül, President of Turkey, and his first cousin, Hayrünnisa Özyurt^[27]

H

• Benjamin Harrison V, American revolutionary leader, and his second cousin, Elizabeth Bassett^[28]
• Alexander Herzen, Russian writer and political activist, and his cousin, Natalya Zakharina.^{[citation needed]}
• Klara Hitler, daughter of Johann Pölzl and Johanna Hiedler. Either her grandfather Johann Nepomuk Hiedler or his brother was likely her husband Alois Hitler's biological father. Moreover, Johann was her future husband's step-uncle. Even after they were married, Klara still called her husband "Uncle". [2] [3]
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., the poet, and his second cousin, Amelia Lee Jackson^[29]
• Stephen Hopkins, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his second cousin, Sarah Scott^[30]

J

• Jesse James and his first cousin, Zerelda "Zee" Mimms ^[31]
• Thomas Jefferson and his third cousin, Martha Wayles^{[citation needed]}

K

• Naoto Kan, Diet of Japan, former leader of Democratic Party of Japan, and his cousin, Nobuko^{[citation needed]}
• Nobusuke Kishi, former Japanese statesman, and his first cousin, Yoshiko Kishi^[32]

L

• David Lean, British film director, and his first wife (first cousin, Isabel Lean).^{[citation needed]}
• Jerry Lee Lewis, rock and roll musician, and his first cousin once removed, Myra Gale Brown^[33]
• Mario Vargas Llosa, famous Latin American writer, and his first cousin Patricia
• Abbott Lawrence Lowell, a former president of Harvard University, and his distant cousin, Anna Parker Lowell^[34]

M

• John A. Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada, and his first cousin, Isabella Clark^[35]
• Gerardo Machado y Morales, fifth president of Cuba, and his first cousin, Elvira Machado Nodal^[36]
• Maeda Toshiie, Japanese Daimyō in 15th century, and his cousin, Matsu.^{[citation needed]}
• Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and his first cousin, Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum
• Thomas Malthus, British academic, and his first cousin once removed, Harriet Eckersall^[37]
• Delarivier Manley, British playwright and political satirist, and her first cousin John Manley^[38]
• Francis Marion, American revolutionary leader also called the "Swamp Fox," and his first cousin, Mary Esther Videau^[39]
• Abraham Maslow, father of humanistic psychology, and his first cousin, Bertha Goodman^[40]
• Richard von Metternich (son of the famous Austrian Chancellor) and his niece, Pauline von Metternich.
• Mōri Terumoto, Japanese Daimyo in late 15th and early 16th century, and his cousin (first wife), Minami no Kata.^{[citation needed]}
• Samuel Eliot Morison, historian, and his first cousin once removed, Agnes Priscilla Randolph Barton^{[citation needed]}
• Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the Morse code, and his first cousin once removed, Sarah Elizabeth Griswold, his second wife^[41]

N

• Naoe Kanetsugu, Japanese samurai and Karō of the Uesugi clan in 15th and 16th century, and his cousin, Osen.^{[citation needed]}

O

• Ōtomo no Yakamochi, Japanese statesman and waka poet in the Nara period, and his cousin, Sakanoue no Ōiratsume.^{[citation needed]}

P

• Edgar Allan Poe and his cousin, Virginia Clemm^[42]
• Bolesław Prus, Polish novelist, and his cousin, Oktawia Trembińska.^[43]

R

• Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer, and his cousin, Natalia Satina^[44]
• Satyajit Ray, Indian film-maker, and his first cousin, Bijoya Ray^{[citation needed]}
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, former US president, and his fifth cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt^[45]

S

• Eisaku Sato, former prime minister of Japan, and his cousin, Hiroko Sato^[46]
• Greta Scacchi, actress of Presumed Innocent, and her first cousin, Carlo Mantegazza ^[47]
• Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish novelist, and his niece, Maria Babska.^[48]
• Igor Stravinsky, composer, and his cousin, Katerina Nossenko^[49]

T

• Toyotomi Hideyori, Japanese Daimyō, a son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and his cousin, Senhime.^[50]

V

• Martin Van Buren, former president of the US, and his first cousin once removed, Hannah Hoes^[51]

W

• H. G. Wells, author, and his first cousin, Isabel Mary Wells (first wife)^[52]
• William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin, Catherine Moffatt^[53]

See also

• Consanguinity
• Cousin couple
• Cousin marriage
• Marriage
• Cousin Relationships of British Monarchs and Consorts

References