King Charles II of Spain

King Charles II of Spain, Couldn't Eat Properly

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Royalty has been infamous for marrying within its own, this was a way for royal families to ensure their longevity as the ruling class, and their birthright to rule intact.

Not only was this a way to ensure the purity of the so-called royal bloodline, but family disputes could be resolved by arranging marriages between family members.

Because of this inbreeding, royal children’s mortality rates were far higher than those of children born in regular households.

The House of Habsburg was once one of the most powerful and distinguished royal houses in Europe.

The massive inbreeding in this royal house is what brought it to its knees.

The royal line was plagued with mutations and genetic disorders, the worst of which manifested in Charles II.

Charles II of Spain was born on the 6th November 1661.

He became king in 1665 at the tender young age of four.

His mother ruled as a regent for 10 years until Charles was a teenager, but poor Charles, through no fault of his own, was plagued by awful genetic disorders.

After 16 generations of this, Charles II’s family was so inbred, that his grandmother and his aunt were the same person.

Charles was considered too deformed, and too intellectually stunted to rule Spain, and its neighbors properly.

At eight years old he could barely walk as his legs could not support his weight, and he needed help with moving around.

Charles most prominent feature was his jaw, known as the Habsburg Jaw that identified him as part of his royal family.

His two rows of teeth could not meet and his tongue was so huge, he could barely speak.

He was constantly drooling, and ate with great difficulty.

Even though Charles II got married two times, he could not produce an heir, dying issueless in November 1700.

Charles was most likely impotent, it was part of his family legacy of inbreeding.

He probably suffered from two genetic disorders.

First, there was combined pituitary hormone deficiency, a disorder that made him short, impotent, infertile, weak, and have a host of digestive problems.

The other disorder was distal renal tubular acidosis, a condition marked by blood in the urine, weak muscles, and having an abnormally large head compared to the rest of the body.

In September 1700, Charles became ill again, and by 28th September he was no longer able to eat.

He died on 1st November 1700, five days before his 39th birthday. The autopsy records his heart was the size of a peppercorn, his lungs corroded, his intestines rotten and gangrenous.

He also had a single testicle, black as coal, and his head was full of water, indicative of hydrocephalus.

Hydrocephalus is a disease often associated with childhood measles, one of many illnesses contracted by Charles.

Charles was only 39 when he died, and his death put an end to the reign of the Habsburgs in Spain.

Because he had no children, his death caused a 12-year war in Europe known as the War of Spanish Succession.

The irony of the situation is that the Habsburgs felt as if their line would only survive if they married only people who were of royal blood.

This very same thought led to at least two centuries of inbreeding, that finally failed to produce an heir to the throne.

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Painting of Charles II ~ Steemit Images.