The last British royal wedding -- between
Prince William and Kate Middleton, brought together 1,900 guests, many of whom were pretty
high profile people. Footballer David Beckham was there with
his wife and fashion designer Victoria Beckham. Elton John was there too. But this photo might be the most impressive
of all, because This is the Queen of Spain
And the Prince of Spain Next to the Princess of Sweden, the former King of Greece is behind them, And way back there is the former King of Romania. They were invited because they’re all related
to Prince William’s great-great-great Grandmother, Queen Victoria. Over the course of her 63-year reign, she
strategically planned marriages to place her descendants in royal families all over Europe. And in doing so, created one of the most remarkable
royal families in history. By the early 19th century, Europe had been
at war for decades. After the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic
wars killed millions, European leaders came together to restore peace by reshaping major
states for a new balance of power. Great Britain went on to become one of the
strongest states. And years later, Queen Victoria and her husband
Albert came up with a plan to maintain that political power: They married their children
to monarchs across Europe. And at that time, you know, all royal marriages
were fundamentally about dynastic unions, about cementing political allegiances, about building
new political alliances. It started with their daughter Vicky, the
eldest of nine children. She married the heir to the Prussian throne,
the largest and most powerful of the German states. Albert’s vision had always been, and Victoria shared it, that Prussia of all the German states was the one that would end up leading
the way towards a great unified Germany. They wanted to build strong connections with
Germany and see them as being a force for good and constitutional benign
monarchy across Europe. Their children Alice, Beatrice, Helena, Leopold,
and Arthur also married German royalty. Their eldest son, Prince Albert Edward married
a Danish princess whose brother was King of Greece; two more important European states. But when their son Alfred wanted to marry
the daughter of the Russian Tsar, things became a bit more complicated: There was a long history about
Queen Victoria's deep, deep apprehensions about Russia, for any of her children marrying into
Russia. Well, the Russian monarchy was an autocracy, whereas the British monarchy as such was
a constitutional monarchy. There was a whole long period of Russophobia
in Britain. The two states were also extremely competitive
over territory in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, where they fought a bloody war in the
1850s. But the marriage was allowed and by the 1880s
Queen Victoria’s children were in several important branches of Europe’s monarchies. But did that bring peace to Europe? Not quite. See, Germany did unify in 1871, but it wasn't peaceful. Prussia fought a series of bloody wars and
consolidated the other German states. In Russia, the royal Romanov family was losing
its grip on power. Members of the monarchy were being hunted
and the Tsar was assassinated in 1881. The royal unions didn't play out as Queen
Victoria planned, but she continued to make more matches anyway. She had 42 grandchildren in total, and these 7 ended
up on royal thrones. The eldest, Wilhelm II, who was already in
line to be the next Emperor of Germany, married a German princess in 1881. The hope was that he would steer a unified
and powerful Germany into an alliance with Great Britain. George was in line to be the King of Great
Britain and married a minor British royal family member. Alexandra married Nicholas, who was related
to George and Wilhelm, and both became the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia. And four more granddaughters married European
royalty, fulfilling Victoria’s vision. I mean, when you look at Queen Victoria by
the end of her life she really was the grandmother of Europe. Take for example this family photo, where
Queen Victoria is with her daughter and grandson, the rulers of Germany. Her son, Britain’s next king, and her granddaughters, the future Tsarina of Russia and future Queen of Romania. Here’s the soon-to-be King of England and
his look-alike cousin the soon-to-be Tsar of Russia. And here's some of the children and grandchildren
together. Finally, this is King Edward of Great
Britain and his nephew Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany at Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901. After her death, the family ties that Queen
Victoria had strung around Europe, would not bring peace, but the most destructive war
Europe had ever seen. The Kaiser, the king of Gothenberg, make ready to sweep the field. The Tsar of Russia mobilizes. England joins the battle royale. World War One broke out in 1914 and split
this family apart. Wilhelm’s Germany along with Austria-Hungary
and the Ottoman Empire, fought an alliance led by Britain, Russia and France. These countries were neutral. Say Victoria had lived 'til we were on the
brink of war. I think it would have broken her, totally broken
her heart, to know that her grandchildren ended up at war with each other. The war killed over 10 million people and
ended the era of monarchy in Europe. Wilhelm, Sophia, and Marie were all forced
to abandon their thrones. Revolution swept through Russia and Alexandria
and Nicholas were executed by Communists. The British monarchy survived, but the war
forced them to rethink their political strategy. George, King George V, and his wife
Queen Mary were very very astute. They saw that the monarchy had to be more
people friendly, had to be more accessible, not just sitting there in great robes in glory. You know, with their crowns on. Had to be much more out on the street, hands-on, meet the people,
win their confidence. The kind of monarchy we now have with Queen Elizabeth. That approach not only helped modernize British
monarchy over the last century, but it also changed the face of royal weddings, forever.
