Consanguinity in the Spanish royal family

[Duke of New Jersey]

The very ironic thing is that the Habsburgs intermarried so that they could keep their dominions within the family and the Spainish Kingdom and Colonies came into the hands of their enemies, the Bourbons.

-Duke of NJ

[Bernardino]

Interesting topic 

Speaking of Bourbons...I guess there was a far more speacial case of in-breeding centuries later of King Carlos II...
Though there are some doubts about real paternity in some cases, let's suppose everything below is true:

Figure:

1st Generation:
1. Infants Don Alfonso de Orleáns y de Borbón, Duque de Galliera (1886-1975), and his brother Don Luis (1888-1945).

2nd Generation:
2. Infant Don Antonio de Orleáns y de Borbón, Duque de Galliera, m. his first-cousin
3. Doña Eulalia de Borbón y de Borbón, Infanta of Spain

3rd Generation:
4. Infant Don Antonio, Prince of Orléans and Duke of Montpensier, m. his cousin (daughter of an Antonio's first cousin, etc)
5. Infanta Doña Luisa Fernanda of Spain
6. Don Francisco de Asís, King Consort of Spain, m. his 1st cousin
7. Doña Isabel II, Queen of Spain

4th Gen.:
8. Louis Philippe I, King of the French, m. his many times cousin, but distant though,
9. Maria Amelia di Borbone, Pss of the Two Sicilies
10. Don Fernando VII, King of Spain (son of 1st cousins; 1st cousin of 9.), m. his niece
11. Maria Cristina di Borbone, Pss of the Two Sicilies (daughter of 2nd cousins)
12. Infant Don Francisco de Paula of Spain, Duke of Cadiz (brother of 10.), m. his niece
13. Luisa Antonietta di Borbone, Pss of the Two Sicilies (sister of 11.)
14. = 10.
15. = 11.

The following generations also very in-breed, but you can imagine...

[Duke of New Jersey]

Yes, the Spainish Bourbons of the 1800's were very inbred, the Portugese Braganzas of this time were also inbred. 

-Duke of NJ

[basilforever]

I'm pretty sure I read once that the most in-bred royal ever was King Alfonso XIII of Spain, if his official parentage, etc. was correct.

[Bernardino]

Yes the Braganzas were inbreed, but by then (I meen by the time of the Duke of Galliera) they had long left those kind of marriages...

Possibly the most inbreed was Queen Maria II (d.1853), let's see:

1. Queen Dona Maria II of Portugal

2. Emperor Pedro I of Brazil (King Pedro IV of Portugal), m. his cousin
3. Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria

4. King João VI of Portugal, Titular Emperor of Brazil, m. his 2nd cousin
5. Infanta Charlotte Joaquina of Spain
6. Emperor Francis I of Austria, m. his 1st cousin
7. Pss Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies

8. Pedro III, King (Consort) of Portugal (son of a great-aunt of 12. and 15.), m. his niece
9. Maria I, Queen of Portugal and Brazil (daughter of an aunt of 10. and 13.)
10. King Carlos IV of Spain, m. his 1st cousin
11. Pss Maria Luisa of Parma (who brought 'fresh' blood from her maternal grandmother the Queen of France Marie Leszczynska)
12. Emperor Leopold II, m. his far cousin
13. Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain (sister of 10.)
14. King Ferdinand IV-III-I of the Two Sicilies, m. his far cousin
15. Archduchess Maria Karoline of Austria (sister of 12.)

Even here one does not find such schocking inbreed...though it's true that at least in what concers to Queen Maria II ancestors there are no known doubts of real paternity...
But the Brazilian branch kept marrying among the usual families (the many branches of the Bourbons) for more 2 or 3 generations...

[Rudolf_II]

I'm pretty sure I read once that the most in-bred royal ever was King Alfonso XIII of Spain, if his official parentage, etc. was correct.

Possibly you mean Alfonso XII.  Going by the official records, his parents were double first cousins.  And they were both products of uncle/niece marriages (the two uncles were brothers and the two nieces were sisters).  Not healthy.  Though it's strongly rumoured that Alfonso's "father" was homosexual, and he was actually fathered by one of Isabella II's lovers.  Alfonso seemed to have paid attention to history though, and married a more distant relative (well, the second time around after his first wife, who was his first cousin, died), Maria Christina of Austria who at the closest was his 3rd cousin.

Not that it helped their son Alfonso XIII's looks.  He had the misfortune to be one of the few 19th century recipients of the Habsburg jaw.

[YaBB_Jose]

On what concerns in-breeding you can't beat the Orléans.
The present Count of Paris is a 4 times descendant from King Louis-Philippe and twice descendant from D.Pedro I/IV.
When one normally have 62 gr.gr.gr.parents, he has only 48.
To "refresh" the bloodline he married a descendant from another of Louis Philippe's daughters, Marie Therese de Wurttemberg.

Geração 1
1 - Henri d'Orléans, comte de Paris 1933-
Geração 2
2 - Henri d'Orléans, comte de Paris 1908-1999
3 - Isabel d'Orléans e Bragança, comtesse de Paris 1911-2003
Geração 3
4 - Jean d'Orléans, duc de Guise 1874-1940
5 - Isabelle, princesse d'Orléans 1878-1961
6 - Pedro de Alcantara d'Orléans e Bragança, príncipe de Grão Pará 1875-1940
7 - Elizabeth Dobrzensky
Geração 4
8 - Robert d'Orléans, duc de Chartres 1840-1910
9 - Françoise, princesse d'Orléans 1844-1925
10 - Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, comte de Paris 1838-1894
11 - Isabelle d'Orléans, infanta de España 1848-1919
12 - Gaston d'Orléans, comte d'Eu 1842-1922
13 - Isabel de Bragança 1846-1921
14 - Johann Dobrzensky 1841-1919
15 - Elisabeth Kottulinsky 1850-1929
Geração 5
16 - Ferdinand-Philippe, duc d'Orléans 1810-1842
17 - Helene, Herzogin von Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1814-1858
18 - François d'Orléans, prince de Joinville 1818-1900
19 - Francisca de Bragança 1824-1898
20 => 16
21 => 17
22 - Antoine d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier 1824-1890
23 - Luisa de Borbón, Infanta de España 1832-1897
24 - Louis d'Orléans, duc de Nemours 1814-1896
25 - Victoria, Prinzessin von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1822-1857
26 - D. Pedro II de Bragança 1825-1891
27 - Teresa di Borbone, Principessa delle Due Sicilie 1822-1889
28 - Johann Nepomuk Dobrzensky 1812-1869
29 - Maria Friederike Wanczura 1814-1847
30 - Josef Kottulinsky 1806-1878
31 - Adelheid von Attems 1817-1858
Geração 6
32 - Louis-Philippe Ier d'Orléans, roi des Français 1773-1850
33 - Maria Amelia di Borbone, reine des Français 1782-1866
34 - Friedrich Ludwig von Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1778-1819
35 - Caroline Luise von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzogin von Sachsen 1786-1816
36 => 32
37 => 33
38 - D. Pedro I, duque de Bragança 1798-1834
39 - Maria-Leopoldine von Habsburg-Lothringen, Erzherzogin von Österreich 1797-1826
44 => 32
45 => 33
46 - Fernando VII de Borbón, rey de España 1784-1833
47 - Maria Cristina di Borbone, princesse des Deux-Siciles 1806-1878
48 => 32
49 => 33
50 - Ferdinand, Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1785-1851
51 - Antonia Koháry, princesse de Koháry 1797-1862
52 => 38
53 => 39
54 - Francesco I di Borbone, roi des Deux-Siciles 1777-1830
55 - María Isabel de Borbón, infanta de Espana 1789-1848
56 - Johann Wenzel Dobrzensky 1779-1843
57 - Maria Anna Pergler 1785-1847
58 - Josef Joachim Wanczura 1766-1827
59 - Maria Friederike La Motte 1789-1858
60 - Josef Johann Kottulinsky 1773-1850
61 - Josefa Katzianer 1777-1848
62 - Franz Anton von Attems 1783-1847
63 - Ernestine Khuen +1843

[basilforever]

I'm pretty sure I read once that the most in-bred royal ever was King Alfonso XIII of Spain, if his official parentage, etc. was correct.

Possibly you mean Alfonso XII.  Going by the official records, his parents were double first cousins.  And they were both products of uncle/niece marriages (the two uncles were brothers and the two nieces were sisters).  Not healthy.  Though it's strongly rumoured that Alfonso's "father" was homosexual, and he was actually fathered by one of Isabella II's lovers.  Alfonso seemed to have paid attention to history though, and married a more distant relative (well, the second time around after his first wife, who was his first cousin, died), Maria Christina of Austria who at the closest was his 3rd cousin.

Not that it helped their son Alfonso XIII's looks.  He had the misfortune to be one of the few 19th century recipients of the Habsburg jaw.

Yes! I meant Alfonso XII, son of Isabella II. He was the most in-bred royal EVER if his official parentage is correct. Which means by rights he should have been in a worse state than Charles II, but he definitely was not, which means to me Charles II was suffering from things other than his consanguinity level.

[Bernardino]

The highly inbreed Alfonso XIII marriage to Ena is a good example though...

[basilforever]

A good example of what? That marriage was a major improvement for the Bourbons when it came to inbreeding, Ena had fresh blood, unfortunately she also was a haemophilia carrier.

[Rudolf_II]

Yes! I meant Alfonso XII, son of Isabella II. He was the most in-bred royal EVER if his official parentage is correct. Which means by rights he should have been in a worse state than Charles II, but he definitely was not, which means to me Charles II was suffering from things other than his consanguinity level.

Well, it all depends on what genes a particular person ends up with.  Charles may have got an alarming amount of bad genes from his parents just through bad luck while Alfonso may have got good genes through good luck.  Ironically, Alfonso died at a younger age than Charles did.  We all know about the last Habsburg king of Spain's issues, but how was Alfonso's overall health during his short life?  I read he died from tuberculosis.

[basilforever]

Yes, maybe Alfonso was not very healthy. But he just didn't look as inbred as Charles II, even though he was apparently moreso, if his official parentage was correct.

[Rudolf_II]

Yes, maybe Alfonso was not very healthy. But he just didn't look as inbred as Charles II, even though he was apparently moreso, if his official parentage was correct.

Philip III and IV (his father and grandfather) were almost as inbred as Charles was.  Philip III was also the product of an uncle/niece marriage, and all his grandparents were close relatives.  But he certainly didn't look inbred, if the portraits are to be believed.  He was lazy, apparently, but so are many other people.  Philip IV with his obvious Habsburg jaw (depicted many times by Velazquez) looked as inbred as he was, but lived to the age of 64 and was certainly not lacking in vigour if the rumours of his private life are true.  Charles certainly didn't look too handsome, and was obivously genetically compromised - but he was stong enough to survive repeated health crises and live far past the age he was expected to live to.

I don't think we'll ever know the exact truth.  We can always prise open the caskets at El Escorial and try DNA analysis.  But I can't see that happening somehow.

[Bernardino]

A good example of what? That marriage was a major improvement for the Bourbons when it came to inbreeding, Ena had fresh blood, unfortunately she also was a haemophilia carrier.

a MAJOR improvement?! What standards...

I'm sorry to disagree...I'd say just an improvement...and not the best one...

[britt.25]

Yes, maybe Alfonso was not very healthy. But he just didn't look as inbred as Charles II, even though he was apparently moreso, if his official parentage was correct.

Philip III and IV (his father and grandfather) were almost as inbred as Charles was.  Philip III was also the product of an uncle/niece marriage, and all his grandparents were close relatives.  But he certainly didn't look inbred, if the portraits are to be believed.  He was lazy, apparently, but so are many other people.  Philip IV with his obvious Habsburg jaw (depicted many times by Velazquez) looked as inbred as he was, but lived to the age of 64 and was certainly not lacking in vigour if the rumours of his private life are true.  Charles certainly didn't look too handsome, and was obivously genetically compromised - but he was stong enough to survive repeated health crises and live far past the age he was expected to live to.

I don't think we'll ever know the exact truth.  We can always prise open the caskets at El Escorial and try DNA analysis.  But I can't see that happening somehow.

Usually it is said that Karl II of Spain, whose death called the spanish heritage war, was one of the most horrible results of inbred, especially concerning his looking, but also concerning his physical constitution and mental abilities. Many pictures of him really have something terrible, not only the Habsburg jaw....But the book "Habsburgs vergessene Kinder" by Leitner brought for me some new facts about him, which I did not know before. Over a longer time he had a close contact to his halfbrother Don Juan, who was one of the many illegitimate children of king Philipp IV of Spain, and they got along quite well with each other. Don Juan often helped Karl with learning and other things, and it was amazing that Karl in many things was not that "stupid" as it was and is often stated. It was rather the case that his mother patronized him too much, and let not make him many things alone, many little talents of Karl were not cultivated, what was rather a pity.
In general Karl was physically a rather very labile person, and was sick very often. His people always expected his death, when he died in 1700 his death was already expected for a very long time...