#40 All About King Charles II Spain or aka El Hechizado (the Bewitched)
That Distinctive Hasburg Jaw
Hi!
Did you enjoy yesterday’s post on Theme Based Days or Sessions?
So far, I only have the following:
MONDAY - Career Coach or if you like alliteration, then Manic Mondays
TUESDAY - Productivity or Tricky Tuesday
WEDNESDAY - Self / Story / Memories / Just me babbling or Wallowing Wednesday
I haven’t decided THURSDAY - FRIDAY - SAT & SUN yet.
So, since today is Whatever Wednesday, here goes a little something about King Charles (Carlos) II of Spain.
What follows is a rabbit hole activity of fun & discovery, that was started with a simple little ‘Did you know?’ from my daughter.
Daughter: Dad! Dad! Paapppaa! Did you know, that King Charles II of Spain was so ugly that he scared his own wife? He didn’t start speaking till the age 4, couldn’t walk till 8, had a jaw problem so couldn’t chew or speak properly?
Me: Wait What? Who?
Daughter: He was the King of Spain from 1665 to 1700. He was actually the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire .
Me: Ok.
Daughter: You are not getting this. He used to be called El Hechizado (the Bewitched) because he had so many ailments. When he died, there was only water in his skull, there was not a single drop of blood in him and his heart, dad, his heart was the size of a peanut.
Me: Whoa. What? How? Like do they know why?
Daughter: Yes! Thats what I am trying to tell you. Wait, let me show you.
She brings out this
Me: So, he was like that because…..
Daughter: 200 years of in-breeding!! They just kept marrying within the family. Uncles with nieces, cousins with cousins, just to keep the throne within the family. Europe was ruled like that, till literally in this case, it wasn’t. The bewitched was in the making for 200 years.
Me: hunh, so what percentage of him was who and what relation?
Daughter: I don’t know.
I am proud to say, after a full day’s effort, we do.
We are very proud of our work, so bear with me while I explain it.
This is what we did.
We started at the top of the pyramid, with Great Great Great Great Grandparents.
We gave each one unique code. So Phillip of Castile became PC and Joana of Castile became JC. These two started it all.
We then kept doing this all the way to Charles II. Every kid was given an individual code and it was added to the bloodline.
We then tabulated the number of times an individual featured in the code for Charles and converted that into percentages.
For the curious, the entire working is on this sheet - Charles II of Spain - Google Sheets
Charles II final code read like this
PC JC CV IP P2 PC JC F1 AB M2 PC JC CV IP MS AA P3 PC JC F1 AB CA AV PC JC F1 AB AH MB MA P4 PC JC F1 AB CA AV PC JC F1 AB AH MB F2 AV PC JC F1 AB AH WB FL PC JC CD IB COD RL MB2 F3 PC JC CV IP P2 PC JC F1 AB M2 PC JC CV IP MS AA P3 PC JC F1 AB CA AV PC JC F1 AB AH MB MA MAS MN
3 relations stand out for us:
Ferdinand II Holy Roman Emperor, 8.82%, was his Great Grandfather & First Cousin once removed
Christina of Denmark, 0.98%, was his Great Great Great Grandmother & First Cousin, Thrice Removed
Anne Of Austria, 1.96%, was his Great Grandmother & First Cousin, Thrice Removed.
What did you learn from this? Why the hell am I even sharing this with you?
It is Whatever Wednesday, relax.
To show you how a simple question can ignite a curiosity that can take on a life of its own.
We had no clue there was so much interest in him or this topic. I have put additional resources for you at the end of the post. But wait, that is not the cool part, this is - nothing on the net had a % data of who he was made up of. We were the first to do that! It’s probably a flawed mathematical model but who cares. We did it!.
The sheer joy of having worked on something with my daughter. It wasn’t a card/board game, it wasn’t watching a show together, we were actively doing and creating something and learning. Try it out with someone you love, its fun!
Life isn’t all about work and success and friging self-improvement all the time. Its also about discovery and joy.
Aren’t you glad your parents aren’t related? Phew, all of us should be thankful we weren’t born royalty.
Further reading (You know you want to! )
A National Geographic article - How inbreeding killed off a line of kings
The Role of Inbreeding in the Extinction of a European Royal Dynasty For the number nerds. They have graphs and coefficients like this:
40 Odd Facts About the Inbred King Charles II of Spain
Charles II Of Spain Was “So Ugly” That He Scared His Own Wife
p.s. If there is anything you would like us to do something similar for leave it in comments. Maybe we will take it up.