DON CARLOS OF SPAIN, Prince of Asturias | Why inbreeding is bad. Mary I’s stepson. Spanish Habsburgs

WHAT HAPPENS when the heir to the Spanish throne is badly inbred and crazy and even physically deformed? That was the situation faced by Philip II of Spain with regards to his eldest son, Don Carlos of Spain, Prince of Asturias. Carlos was the child of Philip’s first wife, Maria Manuela of Portugal and he was a product of Spanish Habsburg family’s royal inbreeding policy, for his parents were double first cousins, making their marriage the equivalent of a marriage between half siblings. He was born in 1545 but as he grew up, he displayed signs of mental instability, cruelty and physical deformities, including unequal leg lengths. He was also emotionally neglected. His teenaged mother died days after his birth and his father was often absent, not least when he was married to Mary I of England and was away, staying in that country. A serious fall and head injury in 1562 led to a coma and almost killed him. When he recovered his behaviour was even worse to the point that he threatened his own father. In the end Philip had to take the dramatic step of having his son locked up in solitary confinement, essentially depriving himself of a male heir to his throne. Carlos starved himself and died just six months later at the age of 23. In this week’s royal history documentary from History Calling I take you through the life of Mary I’s crazy stepson, giving details of Carlos’s erratic behaviour and discussing the effects of inbreeding on the Habsburg royal family and basically, why inbreeding is bad!

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