There are three web sites linked below that purport to have European Royal Genealogy.
I have found a lot of discrepancies between these sites. Some of the differences are easy
to explain. One may use German names and another French names for the same people. There
is also complementary information where one might have a burial location and another a
marriage date. These are not problems. The real problems are differing lists of children
for couples, differing dates, and sometimes missing generations. There are some instances
of these that I know to be wrong as I have indenpendant sources for more recent
generations that I have reason to trust. There are errors that are obvious to the casual
viewer as well. Right now I am using the "best two out of three" rule until I can get to
a library with some of the definitive printed genealogies.
The Internet genealogy will probably put the printed versions out of business. Right
now this doesn't look so good as the Internet versions, which are transcriptions of old
printed versions, don't look very reliable or complete. The good side is that everyone
who wants to publish their genealogy can do so practically for free. Also, the on-line
genealogies can be repaired without redoing all the previous work. I would hope that over
time something like Burke's and Debrett's will appear that is edited and moderated and
can produce a profit for the on-line publisher through advertising or subscription. Right
now we have hobby versions produced by dedicated volunteers.
To give an example of why the names and titles used in these separate databases can be
confusing, here is the same person from each database:
Hull: Louis I the Pious of Aquitaine, King of France
Royal Cousins: Emperor Ludwig I of Holy Roman Empire
WW-Person: Kaiser Ludwig I.
Genealogies in the Collection of T. F. Boettger — This list also includes royal families of the world, most of the princely and ducal houses of Europe, as well as some Polish and Hungarian families.
