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The Titles Deprivation Act of 1917
The united European royal family envisioned by Prince Albert did not last long after Queen Victoria’s death. Albert had a plan that strategic marriage alliances with other Protestant courts would allow his children, who he had molded in his progressive image, to shape the courts of Europe and carry out his plan for harmony. His grandchildren sat on the thrones of the United Kingdom and Germany and were consorts to rulers in Romania, Greece and Spain. Yet, less than a decade after the Queen’s death, war had pitted this greater family against each other. The United Kingdom was at war with Germany, and the two rulers were first cousins.
Despite ruling the country since 1714, the United Kingdom’s ruling family was ethnically German. Prince Albert was born a Prince of Saxe Coburg Gotha. His son had inherited the duchy after Albert’s brother was childless. Now his grandson, Charles Edward, was the young ruler and under the control of the greater German empire headed by his other grandson, Wilhelm.
Beyond these more recent ties, Queen Victoria, descended from the House of Saxe Coburg Gotha through her mother. She also was German through her father. The House of Hanover had inherited the British crown in 1714 when the daughters of James II could not produce heirs. James II’s only son, was Catholic and Britain had no intention of returning…
