Meet The Only Recorded Royal Twins in the Current European Monarchy

It's so rare to hear royals giving birth to twins, much more fraternal twins, that we only have six sets of royal twins in the current European monarchy, both from reigning and non-reigning royal houses. 

In fact, the British royal family has no recorded birth of twins in the last six centuries. The last time the British royals ever had kin who had twins was in the 15th century, the time Scotland and England were still two separate kingdoms. 

Queen Joan of Scotland, the wife of James I, King of Scots (1394-1437), gave birth to twins, Alexander and James, in 1430. Alexander did not survive infancy, but his twin brother went on to ascend the Scottish throne as James II in 1437 and reigned until his death in 1460. He was the great-great-great-grandfather of King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) of the House of Stuart.

Prince Christian, his wife, Princess Alessandra, his father, Prince Ernst August of Hanover, and their fraternal twins, strolling in a public park in Madrid, Spain. Published by Mujerhoy. Photo credit: GTRESS

However, in 2020, the British royal family finally has a blood relative who bore fraternal twins. Prince Christian of Hanover, is technically a Prince of the United Kingdom but this privilege was abolished in 1917. His wife gave birth to fraternal twins in July 2020.

The famous fraternal twins. Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella of Monaco

It's such a rare occurrence in the royal family that royals in modern Europe only have six sets of twins in the current times, four of whom are fraternal - a girl and a boy.

Princess Margaretha and Prince Jean of Luxembourg

They were born on May 15, 1957, at Betzdorf Castle in Luxembourg, to then Prince Jean, the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium. Their father became Grand Duke of Luxembourg in November 1964 when their grandmother, Grand Duchess Charlotte, abdicated the Luxembourgian throne.

Wedding of Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg and Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein

Through their maternal grandmother, Queen Astrid of Belgium (born Princess of Sweden), they are blood-related to Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, King Carl XVI of Gustav, and Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. However, they are both first cousins to King Philippe of the Belgians and also first cousins-once removed to King Harald V of Norway.

They are younger siblings of the reigning Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Henri. Princess Margaretha married Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein on March 20, 1982, the younger brother of the Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans Adam II. 

Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus

Their marriage is the only recognized dynastically equal marriage between two sovereign royal houses in Europe today. Both Luxembourg and Liechtenstein are reigning royal houses. And it was not arranged like in the previous generations. They met and fell in love in the early 1980s.

Princess Margaretha also bears the title Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein, but due to her original title of Her Royal Highness, the Principality of Liechtenstein, which only has HSH (Her or His Serene Highness) courtesy style for its royals, allowed her to continue using it because it is superior in rank than HSH. As such, she is the only member of the Liechtenstein royal family today being addressed HRH.

Prince Nikolaus, Princess Margaretha, Prince Josef-Emmanuel, Princesses Marie-Astrid, and Maria-Anunciata

She and Prince Nikolaus have four children: Prince Leopold Emmanuel, Princess Maria-Anunciata, Princess Marie-Astrid, and Prince Josef-Emmanuel. She is the godmother of Princess Louise of Belgium (daughter of Prince Laurent).

Her twin brother, Prince Jean, is a godson of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. He is currently working in the water industry in Luxembourg and used the name Jean Nassau professionally. 

Prince Jean renounced his succession rights, and those of his descendants, to the Luxembourgian throne in 1986. In May 1987, he married Helene Suzanna Vestur. 

His wife was given the title, countess instead of princess. Their four children also bore the same title - count and countess. In 2004, Grand Duke Henri elevated the children's titles to prince and princess but without succession rights.

They divorced in 2004, and Prince Jean remarried to a Belgian aristocrat, Diana de Guerre, in 2009. She became known as Countess Diane de Nassau. The marriage did not produce children.

Prince Jean of Luxembourg and Countess Diane de Nassau

In May 2020, Prince Jean became a victim of online pranksters when someone used his name to open a Twitter account. When Twitter contacted the Grand Ducal House to verify such a name, the royal court released an official statement:

"Grand Ducal Court has been contacted several times regarding the Twitter account @JeanNassau. It is a forgery. We urge the public not to give it any credit and not to engage with it. The Marshal of the Court has initiated the necessary actions and steps".

Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric of Belgium

The Belgian royal twins were born on December 13, 2005, nearly two years after the birth of their older sister, Princess Louise of Belgium, in February 2004. They are the children of Prince Laurent of Belgium and Princess Claire.

Princess Claire of Belgium and her twins, Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric

Prince Laurent is the youngest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, and a younger brother of King Philippe of the Belgians. 

Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric of Belgium are 15th and 16th in the line of succession to the Belgian throne respectively. The Belgian law of succession was altered in 1990 to give way to the Absolute law of succession, which makes their older sister, Princess Louise, ahead of them in the line of succession to the Belgian throne.

Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium and their children

We do not have extensive information about the 16-year-old Belgian royal twins because they are not taking public duties and rarely attend royal events. But they bear the courtesy style of Royal Highness.

Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine of Denmark

The fraternal twins of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary were born on January 8, 2011. Princess Josephine, Countess of Monpezat, is fifth in line of succession to the Danish throne, while her twin brother, Prince Vincent, Count of Monpezat is fourth in line of succession. They have two older siblings, Prince Christian and Princess Isabella.

Princess Josephine, whose real name is Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda, is the first child of a future Danish monarch who did not wear the traditional christening gown of the Danish royal family, it was worn by her twin brother during their christening. 

Like most royal twins, Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent grew up close to each other. They are both into sports like their father, Crown Prince Frederik, and have pet dogs they often included during official portraits.

Princess Josephine, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent, Prince Christian. The Royal Danish Court

Prince Vincent's complete name is Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander. He is a godson of King Felipe VI of Spain and his father's first cousin, Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.

Official birthday portrait in January 2022

Prince Vincent is the first Danish royal prince to be outranked by an older sister in the line of succession. Princess Isabella is currently third. 

At the confirmation of Princess Isabella. The Royal Danish Court

The Danish succession law was altered in 2009, two years before his birth, replacing the male-preference primogeniture law with Absolute succession law, giving equal rights to princesses. 

Like his siblings, Prince Vincent is attending a public school in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Prince Carl Friedrich and Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia

The twin Prussian princes were born on January 20, 2013, less than two years after their parents, Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Sophie of Isenburg, wed on August 25, 2011.

They have two younger siblings, Princess Emma, born on April 2, 2015, and Prince Heinrich Albert, who was born on November 17, 2016.

Prince Georg Friedrich's family

Their father, Prince Georg Friedrich, is the great-great-great-grandson of the last German Kaiser, William II, therefore a direct descendant of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Prince Georg was removed from the line of succession to the British throne in 2011 for marrying a Catholic, however, reinstated in 2013 when the British succession law was repealed. 

Wedding of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Sophie

Prince Georg descended from the two children of Queen Victoria, through Princess Vicky, the mother of William II, and Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. 

Grand Duchess Kira Kirilovna of Russia, the grandmother of Prince Georg, was a daughter of Princess Victoria Melita (the second daughter of Prince Alfred), who married secondly to Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich of Russia, grandson of Emperor Alexander II.

Princess Sophie and Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia

Prince Georg is the heir to the defunct German and Prussian thrones, and therefore the current head of the royal House of Prussia, a branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.

Prince Carl Friedrich was born ahead of his twin brother, thus, a designated heir to his father's title and inheritance and to the defunct German and Prussian thrones. 

Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques of Monaco

The Monegasque royals, who were born on December 10, 2014, are perhaps the most famous twins in royalty today. They've been exposed to royal duties since 2021 at the young age of five. 

Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella.
© Princess Charlene IG

To date, they're the youngest royals to assume public duties, accompanying their father, Prince Albert II, to various royal functions when their mother, Princess Charlene, extended her stay in South Africa in 2021.

The young twins' support proved very helpful to their father in accomplishing his public duties while Princess Charlene was away.

Their parents are both Olympians. Prince Albert II of Monaco competed in the Bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Olympics, while their mother, Princess Charlene, represented South Africa in the swimming relay event of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia.

The twins accompanied their parents to Norway, June 2022

Monaco still maintains the male-preference primogeniture succession, thus, Princess Gabriella, who was born ahead of her twin brother, is outranked by Prince Jacques in the line of succession. 

Since his birth, Prince Jacques is the Hereditary Prince of Monaco, replacing his aunt, Princess Caroline of Hanover. He is the first infant hereditary prince in Europe since the birth of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden in 1979.

Prince Nicolas and Princess Sofia of Hanover

In July 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Prince Christian of Hanover announced that his wife, Princess Alessandra, has given birth to fraternal twins, Nicolas and Sofia. The fraternal twins were born on July 7, 2020, in Madrid, Spain, where the family currently resides.

Prince Christian is a second child of Prince Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick, and a direct descendant of Queen Victoria through Princess Vicky. Prince Ernst's great-grandmother was Princess Viktoria Louise, the only daughter of William II of Germany.

Prince Christian has an older brother, Prince Ernst August who got married in 2017 to a Russian fashion designer, Ekaterina Malysheva, and now have three children together. 

He met Alessandra de Osma, a Peruvian lawyer, model, and fashion designer, in 2005 when she acted as his tour guide during his visit to Peru. When Alessandra moved to London to pursue a career in fashion design, they reconnected and stepped out as lovers in 2011.

They first married civilly in November 2017 in London. Their lavish religious ceremony was held in Lima, Peru, in March 2018, where she wore the Hanoverian Floral Tiara.

Their high-profile guests included Princess Beatrice and Eugenie of York, Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark, Andrea and Pierre Casiraghi, and their respective wives, Tatiana and Beatrice. Prince Christian's half-sister, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, acted as a bridesmaid.

His father, Prince Ernst August, is also a direct descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom through the Duke of Cumberland who inherited the Hanoverian throne as King Ernst Augustus, following the death of his older brother, William IV because their niece, Queen Victoria, could not inherit the Hanoverian crown due to Salic law.

Princess Alessandra of Hanover was spotted strolling in a public park in Madrid with her twins. Photo: Europa Press

In October 2021, a Spanish magazine published photos of Prince Christian's family strolling in a public park in Madrid with his father, Prince Ernst August of Hanover, who thought to have visiting them,

Princess Alessandra held Princess Sofia, while his father-in-law, Prince Ernst August, held Prince Nicolas. Phot credit: Europa Press

The current Head of the House of Welf (former ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Hanover) looked gaunt and frail during the family outing but he seemed enjoying the bright autumn day with his second son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. 

Prince Christian and his father, Prince Ernst August. Photo credit: Europa Press

Prince Ernst August has separated from Princess Caroline but did not divorce. His only daughter, Princess Alexandra, is currently living in Monaco with his estranged wife.

published by Mujerhoy. Photo credit: GTRESS

Prince Nicolas and Princess Sofia by blood are Prince of the United Kingdom and Princess of the United Kingdom respectively. This claim is through their descent from King George III in the male line, however, they cannot claim the titles legally as such privileges were abolished by King George V in 1917 when Germany was at war with Britain during World War I.

These are the only recorded twins in the current European royalty, if you know other royal twin births we missed, please post in the comment section. Thank You!

Prince Ernst August of Hanover held his grandson, Prince Nicolas

Trivia 1: Prince Ernst August of Hanover is the most senior male descendant of King George III of Britain. He is a fourth cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth II.

1. King George III
2. King Ernest Augustus of Hanover (son of George III)
3. King George V of Hanover (son of Ernest Augustus) - first cousin of Queen Victoria
4. Ernest Augustus, Hereditary Crown Prince of Hanover (son of George V) - he married Princess Thyra of Denmark, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark
5. Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (son of the Hereditary Crown Prince of Hanover) - he married Princess Viktoria Louise - daughter of the Kaiser William II
6. Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover (son of the Duke of Brunswick)
7. Prince Ernst August - the current Prince of Hanover

Trivia 2. In case of twins, the royal court determines the position of royals in the line of succession through the hour of birth or who comes out first. 

In case of natural birth, the first to be born is the heir. If in case of a caesarian, the royal gynecologist will determine who comes out first.

All current Succession Laws apply to the birth of royal twins, just as on single births.