In her first decade and a half on the throne, Queen Victoria was pregnant for more than 40% of it. This was an irony, as she herself disliked the condition of pregnancy, and was no fan of small children, either. And yet, her lusty romance with her husband ultimately produced nine children, and a new project for the English monarchy: using matrimonial ties to stitch Europe into a friendly, peaceful future.

Well, it was a nice thought anyway. Aside from producing marriageable offspring, Victoria also inadvertently launched the gene for Hemophilia B into Europe's royal houses, a fact that becomes particularly significant to the Romanovs in just a couple of generations. More on that later.

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