('I do not want my son to wither waiting like Prince Charles,' the King reportedly said of his choice to step down.) The youngest of Victoria's reigning descendants, Felipe took over the Spanish throne from his father in 2014 after Juan Carlos I abdicated. When it comes to strong genetic links to Queen Victoria, it's hard to outdo the Spanish king. George VI, in turn, inherited the title after his own older brother, Edward VIII abdicated to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.Īs dedicated fans of the British royals may know, the Queen's late husband, Prince Philip, also traced his legacy back to Queen Victoria through her her third child-Princess Alice, who was Philip's great-great-grandmother-meaning that their son and heir to the throne, Prince Charles, carries a double legacy of the famed Queen. In George V's case, he became heir after his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, died of pneumonia before his father became king.

Interestingly, both Elizabeth's father, George VI, and grandfather, George V, came to the throne unexpectedly, being the second of their fathers's sons. In 2015, she surpassed Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch in history, and this year, becomes the country's first ever to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. Directly descended from Edward VII, Queen Elizabeth is Victoria's great-great granddaughter. The most obvious of Queen Victoria's descendants is, naturally, the current queen of England.

British family tree queen victoria