Cousin couple

A cousin couple is a pair of s with a or sexual relationship. Cousin couples are in certain jurisdictions and cultures because they are considered uous; in others, they are encouraged or expected.

History
In earlier times it was relatively common for cousins to marry. Since people tended not to move very far from the place of their birth, the closest eligible spouse would often be a cousin. Marrying cousins was also a way of keeping land and property within a family. For instance, in the and parts of the  Basin, there is a saying that "the girl is for her cousin," even among city folk. Traditionally, the plans these s.

Cousin couples existed in the. Two of the most famous are prominent in. was married to, his (Genesis 24:12-14). and were both cousins of  (Genesis 28-29). The does not define cousin marriages as right or wrong, although it does firmly prohibit sex and marriage between other relatives  (Leviticus 18:6-18). The lack of a Biblical prohibition is possibly the result of a concern with the orderly transfer of property and the social importance of kinship and extended family relationships in antiquity.

The 1913 refers to a theory by the   speculating that  and, (the mother and step-father of , respectively), were first cousins.

A large part of the love stories included in the depict love between first cousins.

Consanguinity
The percentage of between any two individuals decreases fourfold as the  recedes one generation. For example, first cousins have four times the consanguinity of second cousins. Fourth cousins and beyond share no more consanguinity than any two individuals taken at random, even if there is a documented most recent common ancestor.

In April 2002, the Journal of Genetic Counseling released a report authored by a team of scientists led by Robin L. Bennett, a at the  and the president of the, which showed that the potential risk of  in a child born of first cousins was slightly higher than the risk associated with a non-cousin couple. The report estimated the increased risk for first cousins at only 1.7 - 2.8 % over the base risk of about 3%, or about the same as that of any woman over age 40, or of a still younger man (see ). Put differently, first-cousin marriages entail roughly the same increased risk of birth defects as a woman faces when she gives birth at age 41 (roughly 6%) rather than at 30 (roughly 3%). Banning marriages would make as much sense, critics argue, as trying to ban childbearing by older women. These numbers were reported only for first instances of cousin mating; repeated generations of cousin coupling are thought to increase the risk substantially.

A report, however, found that , 55% of whom marry a first cousin, are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce children with s, and that one in ten children of cousin marriages either dies in infancy or develops a serious disability. Thus Pakistani-Britons, who account for some 3% of all births in the UK, produce "just under a third" of all British children with genetic illnesses.

A mating entails an additional risk of birth defects that many authorities assess at about 1 in 100 — the same risk as that of a woman producing offspring at age 35 or, again, that of an even younger man.

Famous cousin couples
Some cousins who have :

Royalty
The given royal couples are a minute fraction of the cousins of varying degrees who have married among Europe's royal and noble dynasties.
 * and her second cousin
 * and her first cousin
 * and her first cousin
 * and her first cousin
 * and her first cousin once removed,
 * and his first cousin,
 * and his first cousin,
 * and his first cousin,
 * and her first cousin,
 * (later Queen Mary) and her second cousin once removed
 * and his second cousin once removed,
 * and his first cousin once removed,
 * and her second cousin
 * and his third cousin,
 * and his first cousin Princess
 * and his first cousin
 * and his
 * and his first cousin
 * (granddaughter of and ) and her second cousin once removed (through ), as well as third cousin (through ),.
 * and his second cousin once removed
 * and his first cousin
 * and his first cousin
 * and his first cousin
 * and his first cousin
 * and his third cousin
 * and his first cousin
 * and his first cousin
 * and her second cousin
 * and her second cousin
 * and his first cousin the

Others

 * and his third cousin,
 * , second signer of the, and his first cousin Mary Bartlett
 * and his second cousin,
 * and his first cousin, Hannah Apthorp
 * , seventh, and his first cousin once removed,
 * , the only signer of the, and his second cousin, Mary Darnall
 * and his first cousin,
 * and his first cousin, Ellen Peabody
 * and his first cousin (through his mother) as well as second cousin (through his father),
 * , signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin once removed, Abigail Cary
 * and his first cousin Catherine Castellano
 * and her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman
 * and his second cousin once removed,
 * and his first cousin
 * ,, and his first cousin Hayrünnisa Özyurt
 * and his second cousin, Elizabeth Bassett
 * and his second cousin, Amelia Lee Jackson
 * , signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his second cousin
 * and his first cousin,
 * and his third cousin,
 * and his first cousin, Yoshiko Kishi
 * and his second cousin twice removed,
 * and his half third cousin, Anna Parker Lowell
 * and his first cousin,
 * and his first cousin once removed, Harriet Eckersall
 * , the "Swamp Fox," and his first cousin, Mary Esther Videau
 * and his first cousin once removed, Agnes Priscilla Randolph Barton
 * and his first cousin once removed, Sarah Elizabeth Griswold
 * and his first cousin,
 * and cousin
 * and his cousin Natalie Satina
 * and his fifth cousin once removed,
 * and his first cousin, Hiroko Sato
 * and his cousin Katerina Nossenko
 * and his first cousin once removed,
 * and his first cousin Isabel Mary Wells
 * , signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his first cousin Catherine Moffatt