The royal weddings that changed European history

Queen Victoria was one of the longest-reigning monarchs in history, ruling for 64 years. She dedicated many of these years to arranging alliances with other powerful states around Europe. These alliances were achieved through marriages between her many children and grandchildren and members of other European royal families. The result was such a vast distribution of British royals around the continent that Queen Victoria became known as the "Grandmother of Europe."

Click through the following gallery to learn about the incredible number of marriages she arranged and the powerful positions her descendants claimed.

Queen Victoria

During the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign, Europe was recovering from decades of brutal wars. The French Revolution and Napoleonic wars killed millions.

Reshaping Europe

European leaders reshaped the major European states such as Germany and France, creating peace and a new balance of power. Great Britain was one of the strongest states at the time.

A plan for peace

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert came up with a unique plan to maintain peace and unity in Europe.

Strategic marriages

They had nine children in total, and many more grandchildren. During their lifetime, they arranged dozens of marriages between their descendants and other important European royals.

The German strategy

Germany was the most divided and unstable nation at the time, so Queen Victoria married most of her children to the royalty of the different German states in the hopes of uniting them in the future.

A divided Germany

Prussia was the most powerful of the divided German states at that time. Queen Victoria believed that Prussia was most likely to unify and rule over Germany.

Prince Arthur

Prince Arthur was married to another Prussian royal, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia.

Princess Alice

Princess Alice was married to Louis IV and became the Grand Duchess of Hesse.

Prince Leopold

Prince Leopold was married to Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

Prince Alfred

Complications arose when Queen Victoria's second son wanted to marry the daughter of the Russian tsar. She had grave concerns about an alliance with Russia.

Union with Russia

Despite her concerns, the marriage was allowed. Alfred married Maria Alexandrovna, the Grand Duchess of Russia.

Links to Greece

Her brother (right) was King George the I of Greece, so this marriage aligned the British royals with two important European monarchies.

The grandchildren

Despite this, Queen Victoria continued to make strategic matches for her 42 grandchildren. Some seven of them ended up on royal thrones.

King George V

King George V was the heir to the British throne and married a minor royal family member, Mary of Teck.

Alexandra Feodorovna

Queen Victoria's granddaughter, daughter of Princess Alice, married Nicolas II of Russia. They became the tsar and tsarina of Russia.

Russian Revolution

They met a tragic end when they were both murdered along with their children during the Russian Revolution. The rumor that one daughter may have escaped was the basis for the 1997 animated children's movie 'Anastasia.'

Princess Marie

Marie of Edinburgh, daughter of Prince Alfred, married King Ferdinand I and became Queen of Romania.

World War I

Her grandchildren went to war with each other, leading to the deaths of 10 million people and shattering European peace.

Modern royal marriages

The British royal family are closely related to almost every other royal family in Europe, so it's no wonder they started to look for love elsewhere!

Sources: (Vox)