Royal Dynasties

Abstract

The royal dynasties surveyed in this book are from England/Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Prussia/Germany, Denmark, Russia and Sweden. In the heyday of monarchism (1600–1800), the royal marriage market was demarcated by the requirement of status equivalence as determined by sovereignty: sovereigns were to marry other sovereigns’ children. At the pinnacle of power, succession was by primogeniture, supporting the right of the eldest son (or daughter). Status equivalence was consolidated by successive cousin marriages. Despite the fall of monarchism, status equivalence was still strictly followed in the remaining monarchies up to the 1960s, which saw more and more marriages to commoners in royal dynasties. This is said to signify the triumph of love over status equivalence. Ultimately the change was made possible by the cultivation of domesticity in the late nineteenth century.