are the royal family german?

Question

i heard a guy in austria is the real king

Answer 1

No. If your parents were German but you were born in Britain and lived here all your life, it could be argued that you were British. Now add 250 years into the mix. The monarchy do have German roots but they have no effect on the monarchy of today. If people still argue that they are German, then would a 'British' monarchy do any better? After all, many British people have backgrounds that aren't truly from one country. This is ancient history and we shouldn't let it influence our opinions today.

Answer 2

Compared to who else? The current Jacobite claimant to the House of Stuart is Franz, Duke of Bavaria, a member of the House of Wittelbach. Besides, Harold, the last authentically English king, was defeated by a Frenchified Viking in 1066. Until the reign of Henry V, who could perhaps be considered partially Welsh, the kings of England were--for the most part--descendants of the Norman French. The Stuarts were Scots, again with a liberal mixture of French ancestors. Moreover, all of the royal families of Europe have so intermarried that to talk of their ethnicity is meaningless except to note that they are all descendants of Charlemagne.

Of course, the English people are for the most part descendants of Germanic and Scandinavian tribes, and English, like Dutch, Frisian, and the Scandinavian languages, is a Germanic language. Let's just say the royal family is of European descent, but the current House has reigned over the United Kingdom for the last 250 years.

Answer 3

The British Royal family has German, English, French, Danish, Scottish, Welsh, Roman, Spanish you-name-it roots but they are British and have been for generations. Prince William can trace his ancestry further than anyone else in the world (apart from his brother and cousins) and it goes back to English kings before the Norman conquest in 1066. You don't get much more English than that.

George I, the Elector of Hanover, was asked to be King on the death of Queen Anne as the other Stuart lines were all Catholics and the British Parliament wanted no more Catholics on the throne. The Act of Settlement had made it illegal. George I was the great grandson of James I and the second cousin of James Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender, brother of Queen Anne.

Answer 4

I would have thought an Austrian had less claim to Kingship in this Country than the family we have who, like many of us have Germanic (Saxon) ancestors somewhere. There aren't many original Celts left in England.
I found I have French ancestors back in the 1500's and my DNA puts my original ancestors somewhere East of present day Moscow.
I still claim to be a Brit.
My husband's ancestors were Irish, Russian and Portuguese - he's a Brit, too.
It has been suggested fairly recently, (again DNA testing) that the original inhabitants of our Country were from Spain
If proof of length of domicile is the overwhelming criteria then the schoolmaster in Cheddar, Somerset, should be crowned King - he shares DNA with the cave man skeleton found in Cheddar caves!

Answer 5

The House of Windsor is a mixture of English-Scottish-Danish and German.
The German-Danish lineage dates back to Hanoverian times for this branch of the family.Queen Victoria was very proud of the German roots of her family;Queen Alexandra was Danish and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was Scottish.

Answer 6

Couldn't tell you about that one, but the British royal family is descended from the former Elector of Hanover. Someone said they changed the name to Windsor because of anti-German sentiment sometime later. But yes, they're originally German.

Answer 7

I think the present line is the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In the United Kingdom, King George V changed the name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor in 1917.

Answer 8

Yes, the entire current British royal family is of German descent starting from King George I of Great Britian (10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760). He was the frst German prince from the House of Hanover (a German royal house) to claim the English throne after Queen Anne's death in June 11, 1727. Queen Anne was the last "English queen" to rule who died childless and ended the House of Stewart. She had a half-brother later known as James III and a handful of close relatives, however, they were all devoted Catholics and were sent away in exile. Under the "Succession Law" which lasted til this day, all Catholics are to be removed from the line of succession and only protestants could inherit the throne. A British monarch cannot marry a Catholic or he will have to abdicate his throne if he chooses a Catholic bride.

Since Queen Anne died childless and all the other "rightful" heirs were Catholics, the next suitable candidate was a protestant Prince George Louis who was born in German and a distant cousin of Queen Anne. His maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Stewart.

James III born as Prince James Francis Edward Stuart was nicknamed "The Old Pretender." He was the son of the deposed James II and VII, and as such laid claim to the English and Scottish thrones (as James III and VIII) from the death of his father in 1701, and was publicly proclaimed by Louis XIV of France as the rightful heir to the English and Scottish thrones. He had two sons, however, one remained unmarried while the other one had an illegitimate daughter (illegitimate children cannot claim the throne).

There are also many living descendants from the House of Stewart who was sent off in exile. They could probably have a better claim to the British throne provided they were not illegitimate offpsring.

Answer 9

They are of German, Greek, and British descent.

Answer 10

Yes, I think they are of German lineage.