In 1914 the rulers of the world's three greatest nations were
all first cousins: they were all grandchildren of Queen Victoria .
- King George V of
- Tsar Nicholas II of
- Kaiser Wilhelm II of
As the BBC History page says, Queen Victoria was sometimes called the Grandmamma
of Europe, and there was hardly a Continental court that did not boast at least
one of her relations. During World War One there were no less than seven of the
old Queen's direct descendants, and two more of her Coburg relations, on European thrones.
World War One was like a feud among a band of warring brothers: imperialists
rather than the capitalists that Marx was referring to when he coined the phrase.
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