# Was this story about a British couple's incest baby ever verified? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806 "2010-06-19T20:39:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/1 "2010-06-19T20:39:38Z")
[Re this story.](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3171716.ece) > [@](#): > > Was it ever verified this couple (and the annulment) actually existed or was the British politician pulling this out of his rear end? > > Twins who were separated at birth married each other without knowing they were brother and sister, a peer has claimed. > > The couple were adopted as babies by different families, and neither was told that they had a twin. They met, fell in love and got married before discovering that they were blood relatives. > > The British couple were granted an annulment at a special hearing at the High Court in London, Professor Lord Alton told The Times. Judges in the Family Division ruled that the marriage had never validly existed. > > Lord Alton, who was told about the case by a High Court judge, said that the twins’ experience demonstrated the need to strengthen the rights of children to know the identity of their biological parents. The peer declined to name the judge or identify the case more specifically ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/2 "2010-06-19T21:03:26Z")
Here’s a contemporary [news item from the BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7182817.stm) (the actual case took place in 2008). > [@](#): > > Details of the identities of the twins involved have been kept secret, but Lord Alton said the pair did not realise they were related until after their marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/3 "2010-06-20T12:30:31Z")
In the UK when poor cousins breed accidentally we call it incest and regard the offspring with horror and pity, but when aristocratic cousins breed deliberately we call it aristocratic pedigree and swoon over the princes and princesses. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/4 "2010-06-20T14:55:37Z")
> [@Drew\_Kit](#): > > In the UK when poor cousins breed accidentally we call it incest and regard the offspring with horror and pity, but when aristocratic cousins breed deliberately we call it aristocratic pedigree and swoon over the princes and princesses. The first part of this isn’t true. Cousins can breed perfectly legally. It certainly isn’t incest. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/5 "2010-06-20T16:27:18Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Here’s a contemporary [news item from the BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7182817.stm) (the actual case took place in 2008). Some later articles seem to indicate that the Lord Alton statements in this matter are rather doubtful. [http://heresycorner.blogspot.com/2008/01/case-closed.html](http://heresycorner.blogspot.com/2008/01/case-closed.html) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/6 "2010-06-20T18:46:21Z")
So can we agree that the story is unverified and probably unverifiable? The total number of people who would have first hand knowledge of the case was probably three. The twins and the judge. If they don’t talk, there’s no evidence. Or it never happened. No way of knowing which it is, though. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/7 "2010-06-20T20:28:34Z")
So, real or not there’s no actual baby involved, just an anulled marriage, right? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/8 "2010-06-20T20:36:54Z")
It’s best to assume not. But there’s zero evidence either way, just like the rest of the case. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/9 "2010-06-21T02:06:17Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The first part of this isn’t true. Cousins can breed perfectly legally. It certainly isn’t incest. You are quite right, unlike the US where it is considered incest, we in the UK can marry our cousins. I never knew that - but then I am not a Baron! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/10 "2010-06-21T02:34:29Z")
It appears to me that marrying one’s cousin is only illegal in a few states in the U.S.: > **[Legality of incest](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_regarding_incest)** > > Laws regarding incest (i.e. sexual activity between family members or close relatives) vary considerably between jurisdictions, and depend on the type of sexual activity and the nature of the family relationship of the parties involved, as well as the age and sex of the parties. Besides legal prohibitions, at least some forms of incest are also socially taboo or frowned upon in most cultures around the world. > Incest laws may involve restrictions on marriage, which also vary between jurisdictions... ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/11 "2010-06-21T09:30:03Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > It appears to me that marrying one’s cousin is only illegal in a few states in the U.S.: > [Legality of incest - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_regarding_incest) > **[Cousin marriage | United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage#United_States_2)** > > Several states of the United States prohibit cousin marriage. As of February 2025\[update\], 24 U.S. states prohibit marriages between first cousins, 18 U.S. states allow marriages between first cousins, and eight U.S. states (Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin) allow only some marriages between first cousins. North Carolina allows first cousin marriage as long as the applicants for marriage are not rare double first cousins, meaning cousins t In December 2024,... “As of February 2010[update], 30 U.S. states prohibit most or all marriage between first cousins, and a bill is pending in Maryland which would prohibit most first cousins from marrying there.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/12 "2010-06-21T16:16:30Z")
Queen Victoria and Charles Darwin both married their first cousins. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-this-story-about-a-british-couples-incest-baby-ever-verified/543806/13 "2010-06-21T16:31:58Z")
There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex You may have heard about his odd complex His name appears in Freud’s index 'Cause he loved his mother