Hemophilia in Royal Families
Probablythe world's most famous hemophilic family was that of Queen Victoria of England. In those times, princes and princesses from one country often married princes and princesses from another country. Because Queen Victoria had hemophilia, she passed it on to her children, and eventually there were hemophiliacs throughout the royal houses of Spain, Germany, and Russia.
Because Queen Victoria and her family were important, hemophilia became important, too. Queen Victoria's son Leopold had severe hemophilia A. There wasn't any known way to stop his bleeding, so Leopold had special servants to protect him from injuries. He lived to the age of 31, long enough to marry and become a father.
In Germany, Queen Victoria had a grandson named Waldmar, who was born in 1889. He recieved better care for his hemophilia A than Leopold had, because people were learning more and more about it. With blood transfusions, Waldmar lived to the age of 56.
One of Victoria's granddaughters was named Alexandra. She married the rules of Russia, Nicholas. Their son, Alexis, was born in 1904. Alexis had hemophilia A and like Leopold, was protected. His parents tried many different doctors and treatments. They tried giving Alexis special things to eat and drink. When he bled into his knee, they tried to apply pressure above his knee. They tried wrapping his legs with a special kind of tree bark. Finally, they turned to a holy man named Rasputin. Nobody is sure what Rasputin did for Alexis. Today, we think that he found a special way to help Alexis relax by telling him stories or by putting him in a trance. Although this probably didn't stop the bleeding any sooner, it helped Alexis forget about his pain for awhile.
Another of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, Victoria, married the King of Spain and had a son with hemophilia A named Alfonso. He was angry with his mother about his hemophilia and he ran away to America. When he continued bleeding after some minor surgery in 1935, he recieved a transfusion of blood. The transfusion worked, Alfonso stopped bleeding and recovered from his surgery
Dr. Bob Wildlbood
Lecturer in Psychology
Indiana University Kokomo
Kokomo, IN 56904-9003
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED].
On 22 Mar, 2004, at 18:59, Beth Benoit wrote:
Yes, I think it's agreed by all that good dominant genes are going to get you decent offspring.� What the article pointed out is that perhaps the horror of "inbreeding" is exaggerated.� Obviously, if you have two bad recessive genes, the offspring is likely in trouble.� But the very fact of their being recessive lowers the statistical probability that they'll meet another "like kind."� I guess that's key.�
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