Seriously?? This was a mystery? Why was money spent on this?? Case Closed: Famous Royals Suffered From Hemophilia Queen Victoria's male descendants were cursed with poor health. The 19th century British monarch's son Leopold, Duke of Albany, died from blood loss after he slipped and fell. Her grandson Friedrich bled out at age 2; her grandsons Leopold and Maurice, at ages 32 and 23, respectively. The affliction, commonly known as the "Royal disease," spread as Victoria's heirs married into royal families across Europe, decimating the thrones of Britain, Germany, Russia, and Spain. Based on the symptoms, modern researchers concluded that the royals suffered from hemophilia--a genetic disease that prevents blood from clotting--but there was never any concrete evidence. Now, new DNA analysis on the bones of the last Russian royal family, the Romanovs, indicates the Royal disease was indeed hemophilia, a rare subtype known as hemophilia B....
No idea why money was spend on it. I guess people just want to know stuff. Usually, for the government to sponsor research, it at least has to have the potential for application. Perhaps this was privately funded?
Could have been done as an on-going project which only took place during the training of students in the techniques of DNA analysis. Could have been privately funded (as Enmos said). Could have been an out-of-hours "labour of love". Could have been an officially-funded project to further techniques and/ or knowledge of lineage. I mean, who are you going to pick? Joe Bloggs and his offspring or a well-known, well-documented family tree?
was it really still seen as a mystery? But Rogaev wanted to solve the final Romanov riddle: Did they really suffer from hemophilia?