together 1,900 guests, many of whom were pretty high profile people.

群聚了 1900 位賓客，其中有許多引起高度關注的人

Footballer David Beckham was there with his wife and fashion designer Victoria Beckham.

足球員大衛貝克漢與他的時尚設計師妻子維多利亞貝克漢伉儷出席

Elton John was there too.

艾爾頓約翰也在場

But this photo might be the most impressive of all, because

但這張照片大概才是最令人印象深刻的一張

This is the Queen of Spain And the Prince of Spain

因為這裡有西班牙女王、西班牙公主

Next to the Princess of Sweden,

隔壁是瑞典公主

the former King of Greece is behind them,

前任希臘國王在他們後方

And way back there is the former King of Romania.

在更後方還有前任羅馬尼亞國王

They were invited because they're all related to Prince William's great-great-great Grandmother,

他們全都應邀出席，因為他們都和威廉王子的曾曾曾祖母有關係

Queen Victoria.

維多利亞女王

Over the course of her 63-year reign, she strategically planned marriages to place her

在位 63 年期間，她策略性地策劃婚姻

descendants in royal families all over Europe.

將她的後代安置到歐洲的各個皇室家庭

And in doing so, created one of the most remarkable royal families in history.

藉此舉動，創造了歷史上最非凡的其中一個皇室家庭

By the early 19th century, Europe had been at war for decades.

時至十九世紀早起，歐洲已經歷經了十幾年的戰爭

After the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars killed millions, European leaders came

在法國大革命和拿破崙戰役屠殺幾百萬人後，歐洲領導們聚在一起

together to restore peace by reshaping major states for a new balance of power.

試圖藉著重整主要國家情勢以達權力平衡，重拾和平

Great Britain went on to become one of the strongest states.

大英帝國接著成為了其中一個最強的政權

And years later, Queen Victoria and her husband Albert came up with a plan to maintain that

幾年後，維多利亞女王和她的丈夫亞伯特想出了一個辦法來保固權力：

political power: They married their children to monarchs across Europe.

他們讓他們的小孩和歐洲各元首聯姻

And at that time, you know,

在那時候，你知道的

all royal marriages were fundamentally about dynastic unions, about

所有的皇室婚姻根本上都意味著王朝的聯合、

cementing political allegiances, about building new political alliances.

鞏固政治忠誠和建立新的政治盟友

It started with their daughter Vicky, the eldest of nine children.

首先是她們的女兒維琪，九個孩子中最年長的

She married the heir to the Prussian throne, the largest and most powerful of the German states.

她嫁給普魯士政權的繼承人，德國各州中最大最有權勢的一個

Albert's vision had always been, and Victoria shared it,

亞伯特和維多利亞共同的先見之明是

that Prussia of all the German

在所有德國政權中

states was the one that would end up leading the way towards a great unified Germany.

普魯士將會是最終帶領德國邁向偉大統一的

They wanted to build strong connections with Germany and see them as being a force for

他們想和德國建立鞏固聯結，並將他們視為

good and constitutional benign monarchy across Europe.

促成橫跨歐洲的良善立憲君主政體的主要推手

Their children Alice, Beatrice, Helena, Leopold, and Arthur also married German royalty.

他們的孩子愛麗絲、碧翠絲、海倫娜、利奧波德和亞瑟同樣與德國皇室聯姻

Their eldest son, Prince Albert Edward married a Danish princess whose brother was King of

他們最大的兒子，亞伯特愛德華王子，嫁給了一個丹麥公主，她的兄弟是

Greece; two more important European states.

希臘國王；又多了兩個重要的歐洲政權

But when their son Alfred wanted to marry the daughter of the Russian Tsar, things became

但是當他們的兒子亞伯特想要和俄羅斯沙皇的女兒結婚時

a bit more complicated:

事情變得複雜了一些：

There was a long history about Queen Victoria's deep, deep apprehensions about

維多利亞女王對於將任何一位孩子嫁到俄羅斯

Russia, for any of her children marrying into Russia.

長年以來一直有很深的恐懼

Well, the Russian monarchy was an autocracy,

是這樣的，當時俄羅斯政權是獨裁政治

whereas the British monarchy as such was a constitutional monarchy.

然而英國政權則是立憲君主制

There was a whole long period of Russophobia in Britain.

在英國有很長一段期間有所謂的恐俄情懷

The two states were also extremely competitive over territory in Central Asia and Eastern Europe,

此外，兩個政權在中亞和東歐有很激烈的領土糾紛

where they fought a bloody war in the 1850s.

在 1850 年中期還有過一場腥風血雨

But the marriage was allowed and by the 1880s Queen Victoria's children were in several

不過這場婚姻還是被允許了，而到了 1880 年，維多利亞女王的小孩

important branches of Europe's monarchies.

早已在多個重要的歐洲政權分支

But did that bring peace to Europe?

然而這有替歐洲帶來和平嗎？

Not quite.

不盡然

See, Germany did unify in 1871, but it wasn't peaceful.

德國的確在 1871 年統一了，但過程並不和平

Prussia fought a series of bloody wars and consolidated the other German states.

普魯士打了一系列血腥的戰役，才合併了其他德國政權

In Russia, the royal Romanov family was losing its grip on power.

在俄羅斯，羅曼諾夫皇室逐漸喪失權力

Members of the monarchy were being hunted and the Tsar was assassinated in 1881.

政權成員遭到追捕，沙皇則在 1881 年被刺殺

The royal unions didn't play out as Queen Victoria planned, but she continued to make

皇室的聯合並未如維多利亞女王所計劃的發展，但她還是繼續促成

more matches anyway.

更多的聯姻

She had 42 grandchildren in total,

她共計有 42 位孫兒

and these 7 ended up on royal thrones.

其中有 7 位最後登上王位

The eldest, Wilhelm II, who was already in line to be the next Emperor of Germany, married

其中最年長的，威廉二世，已經確立為德國皇帝的接班人，

a German princess in 1881.

在 1881 年和一位德國公主結婚

The hope was that he would steer a unified and powerful Germany

期望是他能夠引領統一的強大德國

into an alliance with Great Britain.

成為大英帝國的盟友

George was in line to be the King of Great Britain and married a minor British royal

喬治是大英帝國國王的繼承人，他和一個英國皇室的次要家族成員

family member.

結婚

Alexandra married Nicholas, who was related to George and Wilhelm, and both became the

亞歷山卓嫁給了尼克拉斯，他和喬治還有威廉都有關係，且後者兩位都成為了

Tsar and Tsarina of Russia.

俄羅斯的沙皇和沙皇皇后

And four more granddaughters married European royalty, fulfilling Victoria's vision.

然後還有四個孫女和歐洲皇室結婚，實現了維多利亞的策略

I mean, when you look at Queen Victoria by the end of her life

我的意思是，當你展望維多利亞女王晚期的日子

she really was the grandmother of Europe.

她的確是歐洲的祖母

Take for example this family photo, where Queen Victoria is with her daughter and grandson,

舉個例子，這張家庭照片中有維多利亞女王和她的女兒還有孫子

the rulers of Germany.

德國的統治者

Her son, Britain's next king, and her granddaughters, the future

她的兒子，下一位英國國王，和她的孫女們，

Tsarina of Russia and future Queen of Romania.

未來的俄羅斯沙皇皇后和未來的羅馬尼亞女皇

Here's the soon-to-be King of England and his look-alike cousin the soon-to-be Tsar

這是即將繼任的英國國王，以及長得和他很像的堂兄弟，同時也是即將繼任的

of Russia.

俄羅斯沙皇

And here's some of the children and grandchildren together.

然後這裡是一些小孩和孫兒

Finally, this is King Edward of Great Britain and his nephew Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany

最後，這是大英帝國的愛德華國王以及他的侄子，德國的威廉皇帝

at Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901.

在 1901 年維多利亞女王的喪禮上

After her death, the family ties that Queen Victoria had strung around Europe, would not

在她過世後，維多利亞女王在歐洲串起的家族淵源並沒有帶來和平

bring peace, but the most destructive war Europe had ever seen.

卻帶來了歐洲有史以來最具摧毀性的戰爭

The Kaiser, the king of Gothenberg,

皇帝，哥德堡的國王

make ready to sweep the field.

準備好橫掃戰場

The Tsar of Russia mobilizes.

俄羅斯沙皇動員了

England joins the battle royale.

英國也加入了戰爭

World War One broke out in 1914 and split this family apart.

第一次世界大戰在 1914 年爆發，使得這個家族分崩離析

Wilhelm's Germany along with Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, fought an alliance

威廉的德國和奧匈帝國還有土耳其帝國聯合起來，

led by Britain, Russia and France.

對抗由英國、俄羅斯和法國領導的同盟

These countries were neutral.

這些國家則是中立

Say Victoria had lived 'til we were on the brink of war.

假使維多利亞活到了戰爭前夕

I think it would have broken her,

我想得知她的孫兒們最終

totally broken her heart,

在戰場上彼此爭鋒相對

to know that her grandchildren ended

她肯定會崩潰

up at war with each other.

讓她徹底心碎

The war killed over 10 million people and ended the era of monarchy in Europe.

這場戰爭毀掉了超過一千萬條人命，同時結束了歐洲的君主政體

Wilhelm, Sophia, and Marie were all forced to abandon their thrones.

威廉、索菲亞和瑪利亞都被迫放棄他們的王位

Revolution swept through Russia and Alexandria and Nicholas were executed by Communists.

革命席捲了俄羅斯，亞歷山大大帝和尼可拉斯被共產主義者處決

The British monarchy survived, but the war forced them to rethink their political strategy.

英國政權存活了，但是這場戰役迫使他們重新思考他們的政治策略

George, King George V, and his wife Queen Mary were very very astute.

國王喬治五世和他的妻子瑪麗皇后非常地機敏

They saw that the monarchy had to be more people friendly, had to be more accessible,

他們看出了君主政權應該更加親近人民，必須更平易近人

not just sitting there in great robes in glory.

而不能只是衣著華袍坐擁權位

You know, with their crowns on. Had to be much

你知道的，有了王權加身。必須更常

more out on the street, hands-on, meet the people, win their confidence.

現身於街頭，伸手接觸、認識人民，保持雍容大度

The kind of monarchy we now have with Queen Elizabeth.

如同我們現在的君主伊麗莎白女王

That approach not only helped modernize British monarchy over the last century,

這個方式不僅幫助了英國在上一世紀現代化

but it also

它也同樣

changed the face of royal weddings, forever.

從此改變了皇室婚禮的樣貌