Course Description

Instructor: Michael McDavid

The 19th century was the heyday of European royalty. In this golden age of monarchy there were many “rules and regulations” that governed the way royals conducted themselves. Marriage was one of the most important. In most European dynasties the expectation, if not the law, was that you married someone from the same background. If a royal married someone from a lower ranking family, the marriage was considered to be morganatic. Even though the marriage itself was legal, the lower ranking spouse and any offspring were denied the precedence and privileges enjoyed by the higher ranking member. During the 19th century three members of the British royal family contracted morganatic marriages yet their descendants still managed to make their marks in modern history. The most famous examples are Queen Mary, consort of George V, and the Earl Mountbatten and his nephew, Prince Philip, consort of Queen Elizabeth II. In this course we will survey the history of the Teck and Battenberg families and look at the lives and careers of various family members and their place in British history.