Hi John I'm surprised that you were horrified at finding a first cousin marriage! I've always considered them not uncommon. Apart from those in Royal circles, some famous men who married their first cousins include Charles Darwin, H G Wells, and Albert Einstein - as well as Christopher Robin Milne. In my Cauldwell, Derbyshire, NORTON family, alone, I have first cousin marriages in two successive generations: my great-grandfather's sister, Mary Ann NORTON married William WATSON (c1851-1855). (Mary Ann's father and William's mother were siblings). Their uncle, George NORTON married Sarah BURDETT in Shackerstone, Leics in 1822, Sarah's mother and George's father being siblings. Regards Blanche Charles (nee Norton) Wellington-Kapiti Coast New Zealand NORTON Family History Unlimited http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blanchec/indexdby.htm Cauldwell Online Resources http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blanchec/cauldindex.htm East Midlands General Baptist History http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blanchec/EMidBaps.htm -------------- On Sun, 28 Apr 2013, "John Palmer" <johnpalmer@wirksworth.org.uk> wrote: Horrified at finding a notable first-cousin marriage in Wirksworth in 1872, I looked up the matter in Wikipedia to find the following: "England maintained a small but stable proportion of cousin marriages for centuries, with proportions in 1875 estimated by George Darwin at 3.5 percent for the middle classes and 4.5 percent for the nobility, though this had declined to under 1 percent in the 20th century. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were a preeminent example".