Purple Secret: Genes, 'Madness' and the Royal Houses of Europe

by etc. (Author), David Hunt (Author), Martin Warren (Author), Martin Warren (Author), David Hunt (Author), John C. G. Rohl (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.39

  First published in 1998, this is a study, based on DNA sequencing, that traces the porphyria stain through the genealogical maze of Europe's royal dynasties to the present day descendants of the Houses of Hanover and Windsor, and the consequences it might have had on the history of Europe and North America.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1998

  $3.39

  In the 1960s a theory was advanced that King George III suffered from a rare incurable blood disorder known as porphyria. It is an inherited disorder, and questions such as were his ancestors or descendents affected also, and with what consequences are addressed. Taking advantage of the developments in DNA sequencing techniques the porphyria strain is traced through the geneological maze of Europe's royal dynasties. This leads the text to the family of the German Kaiser, to the exhumation in Poland of a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and to Patients A and X, present-day descendents of the houses of Hanover and Windsor. In a collaboration between science and history, they reach the conclusion that the royal houses of Britain and Europe are still haunted by the ghost of George III.