Random Shocking Historical Cases of Incest (16 items)

(#1) Cleopatra
- Dec. at 39 (68 BC-30 BC)
Cleopatra, Egyptian pharaoh, married both of her brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, keeping with royal Egyptian tradition. In addition to these marriages, she may have killed one or both of the brothers as well.
(#2) Charles Darwin
- Dec. at 73 (1809-1882)
Charles Darwin introduced the world to the theory of evolution. Some of his children — born from his marraige with his first cousin Emma Wedgwood — were born with abnormalities, something he suspected inbreeding as a likely reason for their genetic outcomes.
(#3) Queen Victoria
- Dec. at 81 (1819-1901)
After marrying her cousin Prince Albert, Queen Victoria established a tradition of inbreeding for her descendants. She arranged her children and grandchildren into incestuous marriages throughout Europe because she thought it was a surefire way to ensure peace and prosperity throughout the continent. World War I challenged this diplomatic strategy.
(#4) Albert Einstein
- Dec. at 76 (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein married his first cousin Elsa Lowenthal not long after divorcing his first wife. Many consider Elsa to be his closest partner — she helped nurse him back to health after a serious illness in 1917, and they emigrated to the US together as refugees when the Nazi party came to power in Germany.
(#5) Tutankhamun
- 18 or 19 (1347-1323 BC)
The Tut family tree has seen several cases of incest, and the young ruler married his half-sister, continuing this tradition. Tut's children suffered malformations because of the generational inbreeding, and he himself allegedly suffered from the debilitating Kohler's disease as a result of his incestuous familial background.
(#6) The Hapsburgs Nearly All Married Each Other
- 54 (1630–1685)
King Charles II was the culmination of 200 years of inbreeding in the Hapsburg family. The line died with him, as he suffered from infertility.
(#7) Claudius
- Dec. at 63 (9 BC-54)
The Roman Emperor Claudius married his niece Agrippina so that her son, Nero, would have a right to the throne. Agrippina then allegedly murdered Claudius, making Nero the leader of the Roman Empire.
(#8) Chulalongkorn
- Dec. at 57 (1853-1910)
The Siamese monarch Chulalongkorn fathered 77 children during his lifetime. Not all of them were born out of incest, but a fair number of them came from his four wives, who were also his half-sisters.
(#9) Nāhienaena
- Dec. at 21 (1815-1836)
Hawaiian Princess Nāhienaena was set to marry her brother until Christian missionaries convinced them not to. Even though the two ended up marrying other people in hopes of maintaining favor with the church, the princess had already become pregnant as a result of their affair. The child died shortly after being born, and Nāhienaena reportedly never emotionally recovered from the loss before dying herself at 21.
(#10) Edgar Allan Poe
- Dec. at 40 (1809-1849)
Edgar Allan Poe's second marriage was between him and his first cousin, and when Poe married his cousin Virginia Eliza Clemm, he was 27 years old and she was 13.
(#11) H. G. Wells
- Dec. at 79 (1866-1946)
The famed author of The Time Machine married his first cousin, Isabel Mary Wells. The marriage only lasted a few years. They divorced after he left her for one of his students.
(#12) Maria I Married Her Uncle
- 81 (1734–1816)
Maria I of Portugal married her uncle. In 1792, ministers deemed the queen regent mad and asked her son, João, to take over as the public-facing representative of the kingdom.
(#13) Saddam Hussein
- Dec. at 69 (1937-2006)
One of the Iraqui dictator's many wives was his first cousin, Sajida Talfah. Their arranged marriage was set when they were just children, and Hussein continued this practice, marrying many of his own children off to their cousins.
(#14) Martin Van Buren
- Dec. at 79 (1782-1862)
Long before he became president, Martin Van Buren married his first cousin once removed, with whom he had five children. She died in 1819, two decades before he became president — Van Buren never remarried.
(#15) Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Dec. at 59 (1876-1936)
A result of Queen Victoria wanting to keep all of the power in the family, Princess Victoria Melita married one of her cousins, and when that marriage failed, she married another.
(#16) Jesse James
- Dec. at 34 (1847-1882)
One of the Wild West's most recognizable outlaws married his cousin, who just so happened to be named after his mother. Before he died, the couple had two children together.