We just saw the play tonight... what we would later call a screwball comedy where identities are confused thwarting romances and such with a wind up to a happy ending after all. The play was quite funny and we really enjoyed it.

But at the end it's revealed that Jack/Earnest is the son of Lady Brucknell's sister. Yet Jack is in love and wants to marry Lady Brucknell's daughter, making them 1st cousins, so not a happy ending after all? Or is it that when this was written, 1890s, the ban on marrying 1st cousins wasn't in effect? Does anyone know?

I think cousin marriage was pretty common then, although I'm not sure about first cousins.

I would tend to think that in royal circles of the era, it was a common occureance.

Did you see the National Theatre Live production? We saw it in London, and it was a hoot.

No, we went to a local playhouse.

Considering Victoria and Albert were first cousins It could not have been an issue. Uncle Leopold-Uncle to the both of them via Victoria's mother(he was her brother) had earlier married into the family by marrying Charlotte, daughter of the Prince of Wales, future George IV of England. George was Victoria's Uncle of course.

There was a time when you could not marry your dead sibling's spouse for some reason or other.

patriciae

^^^Patricia ~ I have always understood that first-cousin marriages had a greater risk of their offspring being more prone to medical/mental issues. Don't know if this holds true...

But my paternal grandmother had two brothers, the elder one married. When he died, his widow eventually married the younger brother. Quelle shock within the older generation of the family! Never bothered me, and there were no children from either marriage.

There was a time when you could not marry your dead sibling's spouse for some reason or other.

Interesting. There was also a time when you could be obliged to do so. Look up "Levirate marriage."

Marrying cousins (at that level of society) was pretty common then - keeping money in the family, sort of.

" I have always understood that first-cousin marriages had a greater risk of their offspring being more prone to medical/mental issues. Don't know if this holds true... "

Yeah, slightly, but how much do you think most people knew about genetics then? It was starting to be known, but hardly common knowledge or enough for legal restrictions.

I believe that for first cousins to marry, at least for royalty, there had to be dispensation from the pope. How that played out with the Church of England, I don't know.

A family friend married her BIL after her husband passed. I understand this was a tradition in some Jewish families.

AI says: This practice began to decline in the 19th century, particularly in Europe and North America, due to changing social norms, the rise of genetic concerns, and a move towards urbanization and social mobility

" How that played out with the Church of England, I don't know. "

Henry VIII got rid of the cousin marriage prohibition so he could marry his cousin, Catherine Howard (wife #6)

You can't marry people you don't meet. For ages, most people didn't go farther than they could walk and return before dark. If a family sent away for a marriage candidate, wouldn't it be someone known to them?

Marrying strangers is a relatively new thing. Marriages were primarily financial contracts.

My maternal grandparents are first cousins. My Mom was born in 1931, so they married ~1930. Im pretty sure it was not illegal then, but not common.

They married somewhere in the midwest and then moved to California