To think a 3rd cousin isn't really a relative?

[CallMeNutribullet]

Not really a Royal family thread but inspired by some of the conversations I've seen online since the Queen's death.

I've seen lots of people suggesting the fact that the Queen and Prince Philip were 3rd cousins is creepy and incestuous. To me it's such a distant relationship that I honestly wouldn't even consider myself related to a 3rd cousin. Google tells me you share less than 1% of your DNA with a 3rd cousin and I can't imagine the vast majority of people have any idea who their 3rd cousins are.

Would others see it as a deal breaker in a relationship if you found out a potential partner shared great, great grandparents with them?

The Queen and Philip were second cousins once removed and third cousins. I don't know any of my third cousins so I'd say it was okay considering they weren't closely related.

I'm looking at our family tree and 3rd cousins are so very distant the relationship actually takes a bit of getting your head around. I should imagine there are people who've married their 3rd cousin and have absolutely no idea......

It's certainly not incestuous and appears to be yet another ridiculous stick to beat the royal family with.

I’d seen something on Facebook about her doing nothing about the incest in the Royal family.

Whoever said that had probably seen footage of the royal tour around the flower tributes at Balmoral t'other day (allegedly).

Of course a third cousin is a relative. And contrary to some posters here I know who all of mine are. The wonders of researching your family history. Whether it is weird or creepy to marry one is a matter of personal opinion. It's legal. And not all that uncommon either. But it is hardly the weirdest or creepiest (or most incestuous) thing that kings and queens have done.

Victoria and Albert were 1st cousins, and amongst some people, especially at that period, such marriages actually were considered incestuous. I know that the Church of Scotland frowned upon such marriages for a long time - my childhood friend married her first cousin (both Scottish families) and even her own father refused to accept the marriage for some time.

From the chart I found after a quick Google, it means that 1 of your 8 great-grandparents was the sibling of 1 of their 8 great-grandparents. That’s pretty distant.

With the history of European royalty it was probably quite difficult when the Queen married to find a family that didn’t have some degree of connection. Marrying off spare royals to other countries spare royals was the historical equivalent of the modern photo op where two presidents/prime ministers shake hands in a nice room.

Depends really!

I have third cousins who are the same age as my children so we just say cousins and see them regularly.

My cousins child's children so they're my third cousins but what are they to my children??

How many third cousins do you have ?
Depending on the size of a person's family it could go into the hundreds, I come from an Irish Catholic family, I am one of 12 grandchildren on my Dads side and and ten on my mums side that's just first cousins, my grandparents all had multiple siblings ,cousins etc

Is it??? Yuck. We look so alike in my family I can't imagine that. Actually makes me feel sick thinking of that.

I know lots of my 3rd cousins. Spent the weekend with a few last month. Also introduced our kids who are my daughters 4th or 5th cousins. They share a great great grandfather!! I wouldn't date any of them, disgusting in my opinion.

You share :

grandparents with your cousins
great grandparents with your second cousins
great great grandparents with your third cousins.

My great great grandfather was born in 1828. He had 11 children, my g grandfather was the youngest. I don't know any of the descendants of the other branches and although we are most definitely related, I wouldn't consider them family, and definitely not close family.

Most people of a white British background will be related to each other if you go far enough back.

Are you sure you’re working that out right Britneyisfree?

www.familysearch.org/en/blog/cousin-chart

I know lots of my 3rd cousins. Spent the weekend with a few last month. Also introduced our kids who are my daughters 4th or 5th cousins. They share a great great grandfather!! I wouldn't date any of them, disgusting in my opinion

If they share a great grandfather, they are second cousins.

Robin Cousins is my third cousin

not relevant ...

But you know them ,I wouldn't know a second or third cousin of mine if I fell over them ,I mean I wouldn't actively go out to try and date one, but had I met one when I was single ,I wouldn't have known we were related
I can't imagine wanting to marry any of my male fist cousins either ,even though it's legal, it feels to close ,plus we all grew up together.

I expect the vast majority of British people are against first cousin marriage despite the legality of it

My children don't have any first cousins. The only cousins they have close to their age are their third cousins. They see them quite a bit.

I think I'd be a bit freaked if they dated each other.

if they knew they were third cousins and then decided to date. Weird
if they found out later on and decided not to end a relationship over it. Not so weird
i think it really depends on how they’ve known eachother because whilst third cousins don’t share much dna, if you’ve grown up knowing someone as your cousin you don’t date them.

My third cousin is a celebrity, that's the only reason why I know who he is. Certain members of the family constantly bang on about him. I've never met him and don't consider him to be a relative.

I don't know many people who know their 3rd cousins.

I think it's the restricted gene pool that makes it not the best idea. Ok as a one off but not great if everyone starts doing it so why not encourage your offspring to cast their net a bit wider?

I've recently been in touch with a second cousin who I distantly remember from the 60s because I wanted some old family photos for family history research. It turns out his daughter and my daughter (third cousins) are FB friends. In a couple of years time when they possibly both have children of their own they will be fourth cousins. Quite nice for us as we are a very small family!

A third cousin isn't really a "restricted gene pool" though.

Third cousins, share on average, 0.8% DNA. You have 16 great great grandparents and share 2 of those with a third cousin. 14 of your great great grandparents are not shared. It really is a very distant relationship and not work thinking about in those terms.

Cousins are a different matter, obviously, and in endogamous societies where you have cousins marrying cousins for generations, lack of genetic diversity is very much a thing. But apart from the Royals we've never done that here so there is no alarm about third cousins marrying.

The "ick" factor is when you have grown up knowing someone, however distantly related.

No, they're not your third cousins, they're your first cousins twice removed (i.e. 2 generations) and your children's second cousins once removed. Their parent is your children's second cousin (and your first cousin once removed). Your great grandchildren and your cousin's great grandchildren would be third cousins to each other.

Just to clarify to some posters, your third cousin is the grandchild of your grandparents cousin. You share less than 1% of your dna with them. If you looked alike it would be sheer coincidence.

@FlorettaB yeah I was wrong - 1st cousin 3x removed!!! But still wouldn't 😬

@KassandraOfSparta great great grandfather. I had it wrong. Apparently it's 1st cousin x3 removed.

😂