"It comes in pints?" -- Peregrin Took
-- lurch, Aug 12 2006

Wikipedia: Franz Ferdinand, the band. http://en.wikipedia...nz_Ferdinand_(band)
The assassination of Austria's archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked World War I, and adds historic resonance to hits like "Take Me Out!" [jutta, Aug 13 2006, last modified Aug 14 2006]

Haemophilia in European royalty http://en.wikipedia...in_European_royalty
[hippo, Aug 14 2006]

Kaiser Chiefs http://www.kaizerchiefs.com/
The football team. [Jinbish, Aug 14 2006]

Divine inspiration+
-- theircompetitor, Aug 12 2006


I don't know why anyone would want their blood, most royals (the European ones, certainly) are pretty inbred, what with all the cousins marrying cousins. Although the descendants of most royals are a lot more progressive, ie, with their marrying somebody who they aren't related to (Franz Ferdinand being a good example), most of the time I doubt that anyone, bloodbanks or commercial businesses would enjoy the liability claims if they get sick from the blood of somebody, royal or not.

However, this would be extremely appealing to the elitists, especially ones with Basil Fawlty-esque complexes.
-- froglet, Aug 13 2006


Why not go the whole hog and use gene therapy to splice in royal dna? You could pay royal butlers to swab dna samples off the necks of port decanters.
-- wagster, Aug 13 2006


Gene therapy could be used to forcibly convert someone of noble birth and ignoble bearing into a genuine mongrel.
-- lurch, Aug 13 2006


Funny; I thought it'd be bluer.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 13 2006


Good plan [lurch], let's inject the Windsors with some chav dna.
-- wagster, Aug 13 2006


I thought Franz Ferdinand was a Scottish rock band. Are they named after someone I don't know of?
-- discontinuuity, Aug 13 2006


Apparently! (Mumble, mumble, kids these days.)
-- jutta, Aug 13 2006


A number of European Royals suffer from haemophilia (see link).
-- hippo, Aug 14 2006


//Are they named after someone I don't know of?//

Yes! Franz Ferdinand was the heir to his father, the Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, and after the suicide of the heir to the throne, Ludwig became the successor for the throne, therefore Franz Ferdinand was second in line for the throne after his father.

In the case of Franz Ferdinand, he married for love (I suppose) as he married Countess Sophie Chotek in a morganatic marriage, meaning that his children could not have any claim to the throne and his wife could not stand with him at public events.

Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand group, which sparked off war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Long story short, Serbia and Austria-Hungary called in their allies and the First World War was set to begin. That's why Franz Ferdinand is important.

Sorry, got a bit carried away there. ;-)
-- froglet, Aug 14 2006


//Sorry, got a bit carried away there.// That's ok [froglet], I now know a little more about the origins of WWI. And I'm not at all annoyed by being taught by a schoolkid... :)
-- wagster, Aug 14 2006


Yay, [froglet]. Impressive and informative.

"For he who sheds his blood with me this day shall be my brother. Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition . . ." W.S.
-- baconbrain, Aug 14 2006


[raspberry re-tart]: Next you'll be saying that you thought 'Kaiser Chiefs' were a band from Leeds...
-- Jinbish, Aug 14 2006


Interesting turn, and informative. Wasn't at all what I expected when I posted it.

The initial impetus for the idea came from the fact that my son and I were discussing genealogical software, and someone mentioned "bloodlines" - which started me thinking about the horrible mess created if it were actually the sources of the blood that were being tracked.
-- lurch, Aug 14 2006


//which started me thinking about the horrible mess created if it were actually the sources of the blood that were being tracked.//

Which makes it probably easier to track family through the maternal line - I doubt that you could actually find a case in which the maternity of a child was disputed. Well, not by convetional means of conception anyways...

What I want to know about the royal families of the world, particularly the British royal family, is what blood type are they? Do they donate blood? Has any of them ever donated blood? Or are they afraid of being discovered as being the lizards we all know that they *really* are... Just kidding ;-)

//'Kaiser Chiefs'// - why couldn't they have made a name that at least made some sense?

<Random Historical Fact Round 2:> 'Kaiser' in the German language is most likely after Caesar, as in Julius Caesar, Octavius Julius Caesar (adopted son of Julius Caesar). The German language doesn't have many words that are historically Latin (not as in the stuff on ancient tombs, but 'Vulgar' Latin, which was spoken by the common people), but words did sneak in now and again, and 'Kaiser' was one of them. The German language isn't as permeated by ancient Roman jabber is mainly due to the fact Romans didn't really take over parts of Germany as the Germanic tribes used guerilla warfare which the Romans rarely came out well of. </RHFR2>
-- froglet, Aug 15 2006


Oh, THAT Franz Ferdinand. I though it sounded familiar. Although I think I know him simply as Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Still, the other Franz Ferdinand plays much better concerts.
-- discontinuuity, Aug 26 2006



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