# No direct descendants of these famous folks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995 "2011-11-05T21:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gerund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@gerund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gerund)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/41 "2011-11-13T05:53:01Z")
> [@smokey78](#): > > I’ve been reading up on Queen Victoria passing on hemophiliac gene to royal families. I know she has direct descendants of course, but was wondering did the hemophiliac gene die out in the family tree? That the hemophiliac males died without surviving children and the female carriers passed on normal children who survived on? Nope, that’s the bitch about X-linked recessive genes…they have a way of sticking around due to the female carriers. It doesn’t matter if all the affected males were to die before puberty–they’re not the ones necessarily passing along the gene anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/42 "2011-11-18T03:31:26Z")
> [@smokey78](#): > > I’ve been reading up on Queen Victoria passing on hemophiliac gene to royal families. I know she has direct descendants of course, but was wondering did the hemophiliac gene die out in the family tree? DM & WTW Potts, in their work _Queen Victoria’s Gene: Haemophilia and the Royal Family_, note the difficulty of answering this question because: > [@](#): > > as many of Victoria’s descendants declined socially from royalty to commoners they became less conspicuous and eventually disappeared from public record…as cadet branches of royal families decline in social status information becomes more difficult to obtain and concealment easier. The authors suggest that > [@](#): > > If the gene still exists it is most likely to be found among the descendants of Princess Beatrice (1857-1944), Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter. They note that Paul-Alexandre Weiller (son of Olimpia, daughter of the Infanta Beatriz, daughter of Queen Ena of Spain, daughter of Princess Beatrice) died in 1975, aged 5, of what was said to be ‘un problema de sangre’. They speculate that this could have been haemophilia, although this was denied by the family. The [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemophilia_in_European_royalty#Today) doubts that the gene is still present in Victoria’s descendants > [@](#): > > No living member of the present or past reigning dynasties of Europe is known to have symptoms of haemophilia or is believed to carry the gene for it. but notes that there is still a chance that the gene may remain among Princess Beatrice’s descendants. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/43 "2011-11-23T22:22:50Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Lineages stopping is entirely common. Have a look at all the extinct grants of peerages, where people would have been highly motivated to take all the benefits if there was anyone who legitimately could. Families seem to go through a choke point in the generations immediately after any given individual, and die out a la Mark Twain’s in a generation or two, or get sufficient critical mass as to be essentially unquenchable. Obviously the choke point is even narrower if, as is typical with peerages, the title can’t be held by or descend through a female. It does surprise me that so many peerages go extinct, because, unless I’m misunderstanding, that means not only that the current holder dies without sons, but also any male cousins or uncles who descend from the original grantee _also_ died without male heirs. What seems a rather extreme example is the [Knighthood of Glin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_Glin), one of a handful of hereditary Irish knighthoods. The last holder died only a couple of months ago, the Wikipedia article saying he had no sons. It’s surprising to me that either there was no extant cousin who could have inherited, or else other direct male descendants (i.e. cousins) were eligible to inherit. ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/44 "2011-11-25T00:57:28Z")
I have more: Painter William Hogarth and his wife were unable to have children. I believe they did have foster children? Jan Vermeer and Mrs. Vermeer did have fifteen children, but I have no idea if there are any descendants. The subject came up again on IMDB where someone was wondering why Natalie Wood’s two daughters don’t have their own kids. They are in their 30s and 40s now. Some posters rolled their eyes and replied that some folks don’t want children/can’t have children/etc. And the poster said it is a pity Natalie’s genes didn’t pass on. Yikes, and I just made this thread because it was trivia and not because, “man what a pity famous folks didn’t get to have their talented genes passed on to next generations!” BTW, I told my mother about how King Henry VIII was so desperate to have legitimate heirs and had to remarry over and over. She was wondering why he couldn’t defy the pope by declaring himself Head of State AND have several wives at once so that there would be many chances at a male heir. The way it was done in Asian nations and Muslim nations. Teehee. ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/45 "2011-11-26T01:07:56Z")
reading up on Georges Seurat who died possibly from diptheria and that his sons died from it in infancy possibly as well. Just reality that folks did not expect to have many kids that outlived them and to have families of their own. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/46 "2011-11-27T18:21:37Z")
While Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney each have five grandchildren, George Harrison’s son Dhani and John Lennon’s sons Julian and Sean have failed to have any so far. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/47 "2011-11-29T17:47:55Z")
The only Gabor sister who ever had children was Zsa Zsa, who has a daughter, Francesca Hilton (yes, _those_ Hiltons). Francesca is currently in her 60’s, and never had children of her own. When she goes, the entire Gabor family will have died out. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995/48 "2011-11-29T18:53:19Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > The only Gabor sister who ever had children was Zsa Zsa, who has a daughter, Francesca Hilton (yes, _those_ Hiltons). > > Francesca is currently in her 60’s, and never had children of her own. When she goes, the entire Gabor family will have died out. Unless she goes before Zsa Zsa. A little Googling reveals that Ringo & Paul both have SIX grandchildren now. Still none for John & George. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-direct-descendants-of-these-famous-folks/601995.md?page=2)