He could barely eat because of his disfigured jaw. He suffered from rickets, hallucinations, and an oversized head. He was impotent and infertile. Charles II of Spain, king of one of the largest empires in the world, was barely able to talk or walk - all because his dynasty was so inbred.


Royal inbreeding caused mutations and birth defects that could be even worse than the already estimable genetic mutations from incest. In fact, Charles II of Spain's inbred birth made him more inbred than the children born of a union between brother and sister. And that's what ultimately explains Charles II of Spain's cause of death: by 35 all his hair fell out and he could barely walk, and before he turned 39 he died without an heir, plunging Europe into a bloody war as various nations vied for his crown.


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