Why is royalty referred to as "blue blooded"?

Answer 1

Unlike so many other expressions, this one is well documented. It’s a direct translation of the Spanish sangre azul. Many of the oldest and proudest families of Castile used to boast that they were pure bred, having no link with the Moors who had for so long controlled the country, or indeed any other group. As a mark of this, they pointed to their veins, which seemed bluer in colour than those of such foreigners. This was simply because the blue-tinted venous blood showed up more prominently in their lighter skin, but they took it to be a mark of their pure breeding. So the phrase blue blood came to refer to the blood which flowed in the veins of the oldest and most aristocratic families. The phrase was taken over into English in the 1830s.

Answer 2

It denotes nobility and aristocracy.
Furthermore,

Blue blood is an English expression recorded since 1834 for noble birth or descent; it is a translation of the Spanish phrase sangre azul, which described the Spanish royal family and other high nobility who claimed to be 'pure', free of Moorish or Jewish blood. In fact the whole upper class had just as red blood, but the veins look blue because the skin is less tanned because they don't have to work outdoors as the working class (mainly peasants) but live mainly sheltered by elaborate costume and dwellings - physically people of Northern descent are likely to have such literally blue blood. An alternative explanation, argyria (a disease causing a blue-grey skin tone after digestion of silver), is unlikely as table silver would not be used by all the nobility (often cheaper materials, or gold). The Dutch translation is blauw bloed, in Polish it's błękitna krew, in Swedish blått blod, in German blaues Blut, in Czech modrá krev and in Portuguese sangue azul.

Answer 3

nicely, lower back in those old days whilst anybody had syphilis the an infection grew to become into called 'catching the crabs'. yet whilst royalty caught syphilis they did no longer prefer to be pointed out as catching any old elementary crabs; they pronounced that they had the horseshoe crab that's a extreme-high quality variety of crab; and because horseshoe crabs have blue blood (you are able to verify this out ) they got here to be called blue bloods. So, there you're, background in a nutshell or a crabshell.

Answer 4

Additionally to the Spanish answer, it was the fashion throughout much of history to remain fair-skinned and stay out of the sun: labourers grew tanned in their work, and the wealthy wanted to show that they did not need to work. In medieval times particularly, women would pluck their hairlines back from their foreheads, and often wear a black "loop", or some such other accessory, attached to their headgear to accentuate the whiteness of their skin. It was also fashionable to trace faint blue lines on their skin to show the royalty or nobility of their families.

Look at pictures 12 onwards:
http://cadieux.mediumaevum.com/burgundian-hennin.html

Answer 5

yes i heard that boasting all the time, from royalty in my homeland too. I wonder what they will do to get blood donation when they need it, sacrifice a family member?

Answer 6

Because blue blood signifies aristocracy and wealth.

Answer 7

because the protocol requested not to move and work at all, that's why their blood turned blue

Answer 8

pure blood of a certain family line.

Answer 9

Read the answer here
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/edu/2003/02/11/stories/2003021100040200.htm

Answer 10

because the royals didnt have to toil in the country and their skin was very pale.

this is what i was told when i was at school