From Einstein to Elizabeth II: celebrities who married their relatives

The brilliant physicist married his cousin Elsa Löwenthal, who became his second wife. Fun fact: Loewenthal is her first husband’s last name, but Elsa’s maiden name is also Einstein. It returned to her when she married the author of the theory of relativity.

The former mayor of New York married his second cousin, Regina Perugia.

The director of “Lawrence of Arabia” was married to his cousin Isabelle Lyn.

The famous naturalist married his cousin Emma Wedgwood. They had 10 children, three of whom died at an early age and some were weak and sickly. Interestingly, this personal experience was reflected in Darwin’s scientific work on inbreeding. The scientist was sure that his children’s illnesses were caused by the fact that he and his wife were related. However, the other children were not affected by incest and made significant progress in mathematics, botany and engineering.

The 32nd President of the United States was married to his sixth cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who was also the niece of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.

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The famous poet and writer married his cousin Virginia Clemm when she was just 13 years old. Poe himself was then 26 years old. The writer’s wife died of tuberculosis when she was 24 years old – the death of her lover had a strong influence on the writer and his work.

The actor and his wife Kyra Sedgwick discovered that they are distant cousins ​​on the TV show Finding Roots. Kira is Kevin’s nine-year-old cousin.

Royal dynasties have a long tradition of consanguineous marriages to maintain their blue blood, and the modern British royal family was no exception. So the late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip were fourth cousins.

When Wells was 25, he married his cousin Isabelle. Very little is known about Isabella; she was born in either 1865 or 1866, meaning she was 15 or 16 when they married. They were married for only three years – after which Wells, who was teaching, married his student.

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