The Inbreeding of Charles II of Spain
Charles II of Spain was born November 6, 1661, and 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. While it sounds like this guy really had it made from a young age, unfortunately, he had one big problem: He had a face even a mother could not love. The Habsburgs were so bent on keeping power, as they had for a few hundred years, that they often married their own blood relatives. After 16 generations of this, Charles II’s family was so inbred that his grandmother and his aunt were the same person. So here we have it: the Habsburg Jaw curse. Actually, this was such a prominent family trait and curse, that a whole team of scientists decided to explore the genetics behind it.
It is almost universally known that one of the most important roles of a royal marriage is producing heirs. This responsibility that monarchs must undertake determines a great portion of their lives. But unfortunately for the Habsburgs, the genetics were not in favor of Charles II when he was born. He was impotent and could not father children. It was part of his family’s 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.