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Charles II of Spain. Photo by Juan Carre帽o de Miranda..

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Charles II of Spain

Charles II of Spain, known as the Bewitched, was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War of the Spanish Succession that followed his death, Charles’s reign has traditionally been viewed as one of managed decline. However, many of the issues Spain faced in this period were inherited from his predecessors and some recent historians have suggested a more balanced perspective.

Born into a family whose inbreeding was of epic proportions, he suffered severe deformities that led to him being known as El Hechizado, the bewitched. Charles II became King of Spain at the age of three after his father died in 1665. Charles II often suffered from ill health and much of his reign consisted of others ruling the country in his stead. Let us look at the Top 10 Amazing Facts about Charles II of Spain.

1. His family practiced inbreeding

Portrait of Charles II of Spain by John Closterman. Photo by John Closterman. .

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鈥檚 family was so inbred that his grandmother and his aunt were the same person.

All of Charles鈥� great-grandparents were descended from the same parents: Philip I and Joanna of Castile. Basically, their children had all married their cousins, who had all married their cousins (or someone of a close relation). By the time Charles came along, he was more inbred than if his parents had been brother and sister.

2. King Charles鈥� Was Known as El Hechizado

As a result of Charles鈥� inbreeding, he was severely deformed. The famous 鈥淗absburg jaw鈥� was a severe underbite; Charles鈥� was so intense that he could not even close his mouth, not even for eating. The people of Spain had a nickname for him: El Hechizado, which loosely translates as 鈥渢he Bewitched.鈥�

The Habsburg jaw was quite common among European royals who did not realize that their habit of marrying cousins was making their successors increasingly feeble-minded and physically deformed. Charles had the Habsburg jaw so severely that he did not learn to talk until later in childhood. He spoke very little throughout his life. He also did not eat much because his jaw was so problematic.

3. King Charles Married a French Woman

The Habsburgs were so fiercely inbred because they wanted to keep power within their family. Their influence was so widespread that members of the family could be found in palaces all over Europe.

Charles married a non-Habsburg, Marie Louise d鈥橭rleans, leading to fears of French influence in Spain. She and her attendants were frequently accused of plotting against the crown, and people would riot outside of her Madrid palace.

4. King Charles Couldn鈥檛 Attend His Own Wedding

Charles II of Spain. Photo by Claudio Coello. .

It鈥檚 already been stated that Charles and Marie Louise didn鈥檛 get married because they were in love with each other; her husband鈥檚 deformed features disgusted the bride. Charles was so sick that he actually couldn鈥檛 attend his own wedding. Instead, Louis Armand I, a cousin of Marie Louise, stood in for him. This is known as a proxy marriage, and the practice was not uncommon at the time.

5. King Charles did not have a successor

Although Charles married twice, neither union produced children. Possibly because of his severe inbreeding, Charles was sterile. He had no children with either of his two wives, so in his will, Philip of Anjou was named as his successor.

Regarding lineage, Philip was so far from the Spanish throne that a huge dispute arose over who actually had the right to it. That dispute became the War of Spanish Succession.

6. Portraits of King Charles II are Unrealistic

Charles II of Spain anonymous portrait. Photo by Unknown.

Apparently, Charles鈥� deformities were so severe that he was quite unpleasant to behold. While paintings that we have of him show how severe his Habsburg jaw was, they don鈥檛 show us the extent of his congenital disabilities.

Whenever painters were commissioned for his portrait, they were told that they had to depict a virulent, healthy young man, quite the opposite of real life.

7. Belgium Has a City Named After King Charles II

In 1666, when Charles was only five years old, and rumors were already spreading throughout Europe about the crown prince鈥檚 poor health, the people of Belgium decided to name a city after him. The city had previously been known as Charnoy, but they renamed at Charles-Roi, which translates as 鈥淜ing Charles.鈥� Today, it is known as Charleroi, a shortened version of Charles-Roi.

8. Portugal became independent under Charles

Charles II of Spain. Photo by Luca Giordano.

Spain was an absolute wreck when Charles ascended to the throne. It had been embroiled in a 28-year-long war, the Portuguese Restoration War, which ended with the Treaty of Lisbon.

The Treaty of Lisbon recognized Portugal as an independent, sovereign state with its own ruling family. The new country would be ruled by the House of Braganza, whose members enjoyed much better health than the Habsburgs.

9. His death ended the Hasburg’s dynasty

The death of King Charles II brought about an end to Habsburg rule in Spain and was the beginning of the end of the Habsburg Empire. They would retain their hold on Austria and the Holy Roman Empire (which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire) for a few more decades, but they would never again have the same power and prestige. Basically, their inbreeding led to their destruction.

10. He suffered from two genetic disorders

Charles likely suffered from two genetic disorders: combined pituitary hormone deficiency and distal renal tubular acidosis. The first, caused by a mutation in the gene necessary to produce hormones in the pituitary gland, was responsible for Charles’s short stature, infertility, and impotence. It could also cause weak muscles and digestive problems.