Line of Descendants

The birth of the new Prince of Cambridge today means that the first eighteen slots in the Line of Succession are now taken up by descendants of the Queen. That number will increase to nineteen when Zara Tindall's baby is born later this year and I expect that either Prince Harry and Meghan Markle or Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank will round that out to twenty before too long. That's an increase from just two (Prince Charles and Princess Anne) when the Queen first came to the throne.

Eighteen descendants seem like quite a dynasty, but here at Succession Towers, we started to wonder what was the highest number of descendants in the line of succession at any time was, so we fired up the supercomputer and did a few calculations. We haven't checked every possible answer, but we're confident that we have a strong contender for the record.

When Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837, she had no descendants in the line of succession (that shouldn't be a surprise - she was, after all, only just eighteen and still unmarried). But by the time she died in 1901, she had an astonishing seventy-four descendants in the line of succession. Of course, family life was rather different back then. Victoria had nine children (compared to the current Queen's four) and most of them had a large number of offspring.

Here's the list. Notice that three of Victoria's children (Princess Alice, Prince Alfred, and Prince Leopold) died before her. They are marked with an X in the following list. You'll also find a few interesting people in the list, including the next four British kings.

1. Prince Albert, The Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) Age 59 (born 9 November 1841), Son

   1. Prince George, The Duke of York (King George V) Age 35 (born 3 June 1865), Grandson

      1. Prince Edward of York (King Edward VIII) Age 6 (born 23 June 1894), Great grandson

      2. Prince Albert of York (King George VI) Age 5 (born 14 December 1895), Great grandson

      3. Prince Henry of York (The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester) Age 0 (born 31 March 1900), Great grandson

      4. Princess Mary of York (The Princess Mary, Princess Royal) Age 3 Great granddaughter

   2. Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife (Louise, Princess Royal) Age 33 (born 20 February 1867), Granddaughter

      1. Lady Alexandra Duff (Princess Arthur of Connaught, Duchess of Fife) Age 9 (born 17 May 1891), Great granddaughter

      2. Lady Maud Duff (Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk) Age 7 (born 3 April 1893), Great granddaughter

   3. Princess Victoria Age 32 (born 6 July 1868), Granddaughter

   4. Princess Charles of Denmark (Maud, Queen of Norway) Age 31 (born 26 November 1869), Granddaughter

2. Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 6 August 1844, died 30 July 1900), Son

   1. Marie of Romania Age 25 (born 29 October 1875), Granddaughter

      1. Carol II of Romania Age 7 (born 15 October 1893), Great grandson

      2. Elisabeth of Romania Age 6 (born 12 October 1894), Great granddaughter

      3. Maria of Yugoslavia Age 1 (born 6 January 1900), Great granddaughter

   2. Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Age 24 (born 25 November 1876), Granddaughter

   3. Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Age 22 (born 1 September 1878), Granddaughter

      1. Prince Gottfried, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Age 3 (born 24 May 1897), Great grandson

      2. Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Age 2 (born 18 January 1899), Great granddaughter

   4. Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Age 16 (born 20 April 1884), Granddaughter

3. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Age 50 (born 1 May 1850), Son

   1. Prince Arthur of Connaught Age 18 (born 13 January 1883), Grandson

   2. Princess Margaret of Connaught Age 19 (born 15 January 1882), Granddaughter

   3. Princess Patricia of Connaught Age 14 (born 17 March 1886), Granddaughter

4. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany Age 24 (born 7 April 1853, died 28 March 1884), Son

   1. Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Age 16 (born 19 July 1884), Grandson

   2. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone Age 17 (born 25 February 1883), Granddaughter

5. Victoria, Princess Royal Age 60 (born 21 November 1840), Daughter

   1. Kaiser Wilhelm II Age 41 (born 27 January 1859), Grandson

      1. Crown Prince Wilhelm Age 18 (born 6 May 1882), Great grandson

      2. Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia Age 17 (born 7 July 1883), Great grandson

      3. Prince Adalbert of Prussia Age 16 (born 14 July 1884), Great grandson

      4. Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia Age 13 (born 29 January 1887), Great grandson

      5. Prince Oskar of Prussia Age 12 (born 27 July 1888), Great grandson

      6. Prince Joachim of Prussia Age 10 (born 17 December 1890), Great grandson

      7. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia Age 8 (born 13 September 1892), Great granddaughter

   2. Prince Henry of Prussia Age 38 (born 14 August 1862), Grandson

      1. Prince Waldemar of Prussia Age 11 (born 20 March 1889), Great grandson

      2. Prince Sigismund of Prussia Age 4 (born 27 November 1896), Great grandson

      3. Prince Henry of Prussia Age 1 (born 9 January 1900), Great grandson

   3. Princess Charlotte of Prussia Age 40 (born 24 July 1860), Granddaughter

      1. Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen Age 21 (born 12 May 1879), Great granddaughter

   4. Princess Viktoria of Prussia Age 34 (born 12 April 1866), Granddaughter

   5. Sophia of Prussia Age 30 (born 14 June 1870), Granddaughter

      1. George II of Greece Age 10 (born 19 July 1890), Great grandson

      2. Alexander of Greece Age 7 (born 1 August 1893), Great grandson

      3. Helen of Greece and Denmark Age 4 (born 2 May 1896), Great granddaughter

   6. Princess Margaret of Prussia Age 28 (born 22 April 1872), Granddaughter

      1. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel Age 7 (born 24 November 1893), Great grandson

      2. Prince Maximilian of Hesse-Kassel Age 6 (born 20 October 1894), Great grandson

      3. Prince Philipp of Hesse-Kassel Age 4 (born 6 November 1896), Great grandson

      4. Prince Wolfgang of Hesse-Kassel Age 4 (born 6 November 1896), Great grandson

6. Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (born 25 April 1843, died 14 December 1878), Daughter

   1. Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse Age 32 (born 25 November 1868), Grandson

      1. Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine Age 5 (born 11 March 1895), Great granddaughter

   2. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine Age 37 (born 5 April 1863), Granddaughter

      1. George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven Age 8 (born 6 December 1892), Great grandson

      2. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Age 0 (born 25 June 1900), Great grandson

      3. Princess Alice of Battenberg Age 15 (born 25 February 1885), Great granddaughter

      4. Louise Mountbatten Age 11 (born 13 July 1889), Great granddaughter

   3. Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine Age 36 (born 1 November 1864), Granddaughter

   4. Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine Age 34 (born 11 July 1866), Granddaughter

   5. Alexandra Feodorovna Age 28 (born 6 June 1872), Granddaughter

      1. Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Age 5 (born 15 November 1895), Great granddaughter

      2. Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia Age 3 (born 10 June 1897), Great granddaughter

      3. Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Age 1 (born 26 June 1899), Great granddaughter

7. Princess Helena of the United Kingdom Age 54 (born 25 May 1846), Daughter

   1. Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Age 31 (born 26 February 1869), Grandson

   2. Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein Age 30 (born 3 May 1870), Granddaughter

   3. Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein Age 28 (born 12 August 1872), Granddaughter

8. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Age 52 (born 18 March 1848), Daughter

9. Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom Age 43 (born 14 April 1857), Daughter

   1. Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke Age 14 (born 23 November 1886), Grandson

   2. Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg Age 13 (born 24 October 1887), Granddaughter

   3. Lord Leopold Mountbatten Age 11 (born 21 May 1889), Grandson

   4. Prince Maurice of Battenberg Age 9 (born 3 October 1891), Grandson