维多利亚女王是最后一任女王（维多利亚女王缘何被称为欧洲的祖母）
维多利亚女王是最后一任女王（维多利亚女王缘何被称为欧洲的祖母）This is the Queen of Spain And the Prince of Spain但这张照片大概才是最令人印象深刻的一张Elton John was there too.艾尔顿约翰也在场But this photo might be the most impressive of all because
The last British royal wedding -- between Prince William and Kate Middleton brought together 1 900 guests many of whom were pretty high profile people.
上一个英国皇室婚礼 -- 威廉王子和凯特米德尔顿的婚礼群聚了 1900 位宾客，而其中的大多数自是社会名流
Footballer David Beckham was there with his wife and fashion designer Victoria Beckham.
足球员大卫贝克汉与他的时尚设计师妻子维多利亚贝克汉伉俪出席
Elton John was there too.
艾尔顿约翰也在场
But this photo might be the most impressive of all because
但这张照片大概才是最令人印象深刻的一张
This is the Queen of Spain And the Prince of Spain
因为这里有西班牙女王、西班牙王子
Next to the Princess of Sweden the former King of Greece is behind them
隔壁是瑞典公主，前任希腊国王在他们后方
And way back there is the former King of Romania.
在更后方还有前任罗马尼亚国王
They were invited because they’re all related to Prince William’s great-great-great Grandmother
他们全都应邀出席，因为他们都和威廉王子的曾曾曾祖母有关系
Queen Victoria.
维多利亚女王
Over the course of her 63-year reign she strategically planned marriages to place her descendants in royal families all over Europe.
在位 63 年期间，她策略性地策划婚姻，将她的后代安置到欧洲的各个皇室家庭
And in doing so created one of the most remarkable royal families in history.
借此举动，创造了历史上最非凡的其中一个皇室家庭
By the early 19th century Europe had been at war for decades.
时至十九世纪早起，欧洲已经历经了几十年的战争
After the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars killed millions European leaders came together to restore peace by reshaping major states for a new balance of power.
在法国大革命和拿破仑战役屠杀几百万人后，欧洲领导们聚在一起试图借着重整主要国家情势以达权力平衡，重拾和平
Great Britain went on to become one of the strongest states.
大英帝国进而成为了其中一个最强的政权
And years later Queen Victoria and her husband Albert came up with a plan to maintain that political power: They married their children to monarchs across Europe.
几年后，维多利亚女王和她的丈夫亚伯特想出了一个办法来保固权力：他们让他们的后代和欧洲各元首联姻
And at that time you know all royal marriages were fundamentally about dynastic unions about cementing political allegiances about building new political alliances.
要知道，在那时候，所有的皇室婚姻根本上都意味着王朝的联合、巩固政治忠诚和建立新的政治盟友
It started with their daughter Vicky the eldest of nine children.
首先是她们的女儿维琪，九个孩子中最年长的
She married the heir to the Prussian throne the largest and most powerful of the German states.
她嫁给普鲁士政权的继承人，德国各州中最大最有权势的一个
Albert’s vision had always been and Victoria shared it that Prussia of all the German states was the one that would end up leading the way towards a great unified Germany.
亚伯特和维多利亚共同的先见之明是在所有德国政权中普鲁士将会是最终带领德国迈向伟大统一的
They wanted to build strong connections with Germany and see them as being a force for good and constitutional benign monarchy across Europe.
他们想和德国建立巩固联结，并将他们视为促成横跨欧洲的良善立宪君主政体的主要推手
Their children Alice Beatrice Helena Leopold and Arthur also married German royalty.
他们的孩子爱丽丝、碧翠丝、海伦娜、利奥波德和亚瑟同样与德国皇室联姻
Their eldest son Prince Albert Edward married a Danish princess whose brother was King of Greece; two more important European states.
他们的长子阿尔伯特爱德华王子嫁给了一位丹麦公主，而他的大舅子便是希腊国王; 两个更重要的欧洲国家。
But when their son Alfred wanted to marry the daughter of the Russian Tsar things became a bit more complicated:
但是当他们的儿子亚伯特想要和俄罗斯沙皇的女儿结婚时，事情变得有点儿复杂了：
There was a long history about Queen Victoria's deep deep apprehensions about Russia for any of her children marrying into Russia.
维多利亚女王对于将任何一位孩子嫁到俄罗斯长年以来一直有很深的恐惧
Well the Russian monarchy was an autocracy whereas the British monarchy as such was a constitutional monarchy.
是这样的，当时俄罗斯政权是独裁政治，然而英国政权则是立宪君主制
There was a whole long period of Russophobia in Britain.
在英国有很长一段期间有所谓的恐俄情怀
The two states were also extremely competitive over territory in Central Asia and Eastern Europe where they fought a bloody war in the 1850s.
此外，两个政权在中亚和东欧有很激烈的领土纠纷，在 1850 年中期还有过一场腥风血雨
But the marriage was allowed and by the 1880s Queen Victoria’s children were in several important branches of Europe’s monarchies.
不过这场婚姻还是被允许了，而到了 1880 年，维多利亚女王的小孩早已在多个重要的欧洲政权分支
But did that bring peace to Europe?
然而这有给欧洲带来和平吗？
Not quite.
不尽然
See Germany did unify in 1871 but it wasn't peaceful.
德国的确在 1871 年统一了，但过程并不和平
Prussia fought a series of bloody wars and consolidated the other German states.
普鲁士打了一系列血腥的战役，才合并了其他德国政权
In Russia the royal Romanov family was losing its grip on power.
在俄罗斯，罗曼诺夫皇室逐渐丧失权力
Members of the monarchy were being hunted and the Tsar was assassinated in 1881.
政权成员遭到追捕，沙皇则在 1881 年被刺杀
The royal unions didn't play out as Queen Victoria planned but she continued to make more matches anyway.
皇室的联合并未如维多利亚女王所计划的发展，但她还是继续促成更多的联姻
She had 42 grandchildren in total and these 7 ended up on royal thrones.
她共计有 42 位孙辈，其中有 7 位最后登上王位
The eldest Wilhelm II who was already in line to be the next Emperor of Germany married a German princess in 1881.
其中最年长的，威廉二世，已经确立为德国皇帝的接班人，在 1881 年和一位德国公主结婚
The hope was that he would steer a unified and powerful Germany into an alliance with Great Britain.
期望是他能够引领统一的强大德国成为大英帝国的盟友
George was in line to be the King of Great Britain and married a minor British royal family member.
乔治是大英帝国国王的继承人，他和一个英国皇室的次要家族成员 结婚
Alexandra married Nicholas who was related to George and Wilhelm and both became the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia.
亚历山卓嫁给了尼克拉斯，他和乔治还有威廉都有关系，且后者两位都成为了俄罗斯的沙皇和沙皇皇后
And four more granddaughters married European royalty fulfilling Victoria’s vision.
然后还有四个孙女和欧洲皇室结婚，实现了维多利亚的策略
I mean when you look at Queen Victoria by the end of her life she really was the grandmother of Europe.
我的意思是，当你回看维多利亚女王晚期的日子她的确是欧洲的祖母
Take for example this family photo where Queen Victoria is with her daughter and grandson the rulers of Germany.
举个例子，这张家庭照片中有维多利亚女王和她的女儿还有孙子 德国的统治者
Her son Britain’s next king and her granddaughters the future Tsarina of Russia and future Queen of Romania.
她的儿子，下一位英国国王，和她的孙女们，未来的俄罗斯沙皇皇后和未来的罗马尼亚女皇
Here’s the soon-to-be King of England and his look-alike cousin the soon-to-be Tsar of Russia.
这是即将继任的英国国王，以及长得和他很像的堂兄弟，同时也是即将继任的俄罗斯沙皇
And here's some of the children and grandchildren together.
然后这里是一些小孩和孙儿
Finally this is King Edward of Great Britain and his nephew Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany at Queen Victoria’s funeral in 1901.
最后，这是大英帝国的爱德华国王以及他的侄子，德国的威廉皇帝在 1901 年维多利亚女王的丧礼上
After her death the family ties that Queen Victoria had strung around Europe would not bring peace but the most destructive war Europe had ever seen.
在她过世后，维多利亚女王在欧洲串起的家族渊源并没有带来和平却带来了欧洲有史以来最具摧毁性的战争
The Kaiser the king of Gothenberg make ready to sweep the field.
凯撒，哥德堡的国王准备好横扫战场
The Tsar of Russia mobilizes.
俄罗斯沙皇动员了
England joins the battle royale.
英国也加入了战争
World War One broke out in 1914 and split this family apart.
第一次世界大战在 1914 年爆发，使得这个家族分崩离析
Wilhelm’s Germany along with Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire fought an alliance led by Britain Russia and France.
威廉的德国和奥匈帝国还有土耳其帝国联合起来，对抗由英国、俄罗斯和法国领导的同盟
These countries were neutral.
这些国家则是中立
Say Victoria had lived 'til we were on the brink of war.
假使维多利亚活到了战争前夕
I think it would have broken her totally broken her heart to know that her grandchildren ended up at war with each other.
我想得知她的孙儿们最终在战场上彼此争锋相对她肯定会崩溃让她彻底心碎
The war killed over 10 million people and ended the era of monarchy in Europe.
这场战争毁掉了超过一千万条人命，同时结束了欧洲的君主政体
Wilhelm Sophia and Marie were all forced to abandon their thrones.
威廉、索菲亚和玛利亚都被迫放弃他们的王位
Revolution swept through Russia and Alexandria and Nicholas were executed by Communists.
革命席卷了俄罗斯，亚历山大大帝和尼可拉斯被共产主义者处决
The British monarchy survived but the war forced them to rethink their political strategy.
英国政权存活了，但是这场战役迫使他们重新思考他们的政治策略
George King George V and his wife Queen Mary were very very astute.
国王乔治五世和他的妻子玛丽皇后非常地机敏
They saw that the monarchy had to be more people friendly had to be more accessible not just sitting there in great robes in glory.
他们看出了君主政权应该更加亲近人民，必须更平易近人而不能只是衣着华袍坐拥权位
You know with their crowns on. Had to be much more out on the street hands-on meet the people win their confidence.
有了王权加身。必须更常现身于街头，伸手接触、认识人民，保持雍容大度
The kind of monarchy we now have with Queen Elizabeth.
如同我们现在的君主伊丽莎白女王
That approach not only helped modernize British monarchy over the last century but it also changed the face of royal weddings forever.
这一举动不仅帮助英国在上个世纪实现英国君主制的现代化，而且还永远改变了皇室婚礼的面貌。
