Purple Secret: Genes, Madness and the Royal Houses of Europe - Hardcover

Rohl, John C. G.; Warren, Martin; Hunt, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593041488 ISBN 13: 9780593041482

Publisher: Bantam Press, 1998

Synopsis

In the 1960s a theory was advanced that King George III suffered from a rare incurable blood disorder known as porphyria. It is an inherited disorder, and questions such as were his ancestors or descendents affected also, and with what consequences are addressed. Taking advantage of the developments in DNA sequencing techniques the porphyria strain is traced through the geneological maze of Europe's royal dynasties. This leads the text to the family of the German Kaiser, to the exhumation in Poland of a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and to Patients A and X, present-day descendents of the houses of Hanover and Windsor. In a collaboration between science and history, they reach the conclusion that the royal houses of Britain and Europe are still haunted by the ghost of George III.

About this title

From the Back Cover

In recent years a hugely successful play and film have been based on the theory, originally advanced in the 1960s, that King George III suffered from the rare and incurable blood disease known as porphyria.

Porphyria is an inherited disorder. Was George III the only victim, or could it have affected his ancestors - or his descendants down to the present day? And if so, what consequences might it have had in the history of Europe and North America?

In a unique collaboration between history and science, which combines historical records of illness and suffering with the latest advances in DNA technology, Purple Secret traces, in an extraordinary and fascinating detective story, the inheritance of porphyria through the genealogical maze of Europe's royal dynasties. Its inescapable conclusion - that the royal houses of Britain and Europe are still haunted by the ghost of George III - sheds light on major historical events from Britain's loss of her American colonies to the outbreak of the First World War and the downfall of the Romanovs, as well as on the present Royal Family.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593041488
• ISBN 13: 9780593041482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320