Feared as the bewitched king, Charles II of Spain is remembered for his shocking appearance and the devastating effects of generations of inbreeding. But behind this broken monarch were two young queens sent into a marriage they could not refuse. Their stories are tales of duty, despair, and a true union that would end in tragedy and plunge Europe into war. Before exploring the wives of King Carlos the Second, we must examine the life of the man himself.
Carlos was born on November 6, 1661. He was the youngest son of King Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria. Although he had older brothers, they were either illegitimate or had died before Carlos. For example, his half-brother, Baltázar Carlos, had long been the heir to the throne, but died in 1646, a week before his 17th birthday, from a suspected case of smallpox. This family context meant that Charles succeeded as King Charles II of Spain after the death of his father on September 17, 1665.
This occurred a few weeks before Charles turned 4 years old and was followed by a long minority, during which his mother, Mariana of Austria, and his illegitimate half-brother, John of Austria, competed for control of the government. Part of the reason for the power struggle at court was the widespread awareness that even when Charles came of age, he might not be able to rule independently. He suffered from a number of serious health problems, and his contemporaries already recognized that his condition would limit his authority.
Historians and medical experts still debate exactly what ailed him, but the records paint a grim picture. His body never fully developed. He had difficulty walking without assistance and had the pronounced Habsburg jaw, which made it difficult for him to chew and speak. Contemporary accounts also describe developmental delays and intellectual limitations. Many at court believed that these physical and intellectual problems were so unnatural that they must be the result of witchcraft. As a result, Charles II of Spain came to be known as “the bewitched one,” or “the bewitched king.”
The reality, however, was much more disturbing. It is widely believed that his condition was the result of severe inbreeding. For generations, the Spanish and Austrian branches of the House of Habsburg had intermarried. This had resulted in close cousins interbreeding generation after generation. For example, his father, Philip IV of Spain, was both the uncle and the husband of his mother, Mariana of Austria. She had originally been destined to marry his son, Baltazar Carlos, but after Balthazar Carlos died in 1646, Philip instead married his own niece.
Carlos’s chronic health problems were almost certainly linked, at least in part, to this long history of inbreeding. Some historians have suggested that he may have suffered from hydrocephalus, an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, but his exact condition remains uncertain and most scholars believe that his illnesses had multiple causes. Whatever the truth about his condition, this left Carlos with a striking and unusual appearance, an appearance difficult to conceal in person. And yet, the portraits told a very different story. The painters of the Spanish court carefully softened his features, presenting him as dignified, even somewhat handsome, to potential brides abroad. Because despite everything, the future of Spain depended on only one thing: Charles needed a queen.
Like any king, Charles needed to marry to secure his dynasty. From an early age, his contemporaries doubted that Charles would be able to father children, given his fragile health. However, despite these concerns, the king had to try, especially since the direct male line of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg had become dangerously thin.
By the 1670s, negotiations were underway across Europe to find a suitable wife for the so-called bewitched king. Initially, there were talks about the possibility of Charles marrying his own niece, Maria Antonia of Austria, daughter of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his own sister, Margaret Theresa of Spain. Such a union would have kept the Spanish crown firmly within the House of Habsburg, although it would have further intensified the already extreme levels of inbreeding. However, the connection proved impractical. Maria Antonia was still very young and Spain could not afford to wait. With the succession becoming increasingly uncertain, the priority was clear. The king needed a wife and an heir as soon as possible.
There were also brief considerations of a Portuguese match with Isabel Luisa, Princess of Beira, of the House of Braganza, suggested as a possible bride. Such a union could have helped to stabilize relations on the Iberian Peninsula after decades of tension. However, the idea never gained real momentum and was abandoned. A French alliance, on the other hand, proved much more attractive. Relations between Spain and France had been tense for years, particularly under Louis XIV, whose wars in the 1660s and 1670s had stripped Spain of valuable territories in the Netherlands and along its eastern border. A royal marriage offered an opportunity, albeit fragile, to alleviate that rivalry.
And so, finally, a bride was chosen. In the end, it was Marie Louise of Orleans who would become Charles’s wife. She was born on March 26, 1662 in Paris and was only a few months younger than Charles. Maria Luisa was the daughter of Princess Henrietta of England and Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, the younger brother of Louis XIV. Therefore, Maria Luisa was a royal niece. Maria Luisa was also a second cousin of Carlos, since her grandmother was Ana of Austria, daughter of King Philip III of Spain—Carlos’s grandfather. The couple were also second cousins due to complex and tangled family connections.
After her birth, it was said that both parents were disappointed because the baby was a girl. And according to reports, her mother exclaimed:
“Then throw her in the river.”
Although her mother-in-law quickly calmed her down. Despite this dramatic beginning, Maria Luisa grew up to become her father’s favorite. He enjoyed a warm and relatively happy childhood, spending much of his time at the royal palace. She was especially close to her two grandmothers, Anne of Austria, who pampered her and later left her a substantial inheritance, and Henrietta Maria of France, with whom she often stayed in Colombes.
Tragically, however, in 1670, when Maria Luisa was only 8 years old, her mother died suddenly. The following year, her father remarried, taking Isabel Charlotte of the Palatinate as his new wife. Despite this, Maria Luisa would maintain a warm and affectionate relationship with her stepmother. She also received a careful and thorough education, learning to ride, sing, dance and play instruments such as the harpsichord, while also mastering the art of formal courtly conversation, all under the watchful guidance of her governess.
In addition to this, her contemporaries spoke positively of her, and one stated that she had an elegant presence, a well-proportioned stature, and a serene and flattering countenance. Her hair was thick and dark brown. Her eyebrows were arched and her eyes were black, lively, large and majestic. Her forehead was broad and white, her lips were full and slightly rounded. Her nose was sharp and well-formed. Her manner was graceful and perfect.
In July 1679, Maria Luisa was informed that she was to marry the King of Spain. However, she was devastated and reportedly spent months crying. This was because she was deeply attached to her cousin Luis, the great Dauphin, who was close to her age. And she had once hoped to become Queen of France, but she had no choice. The decision had already been made. Then she left France for Spain, never to return.
Maria Luisa met Carlos for the first time on her wedding day, marrying him in person on November 19, 1679, in Quintanapalla, near Burgos. He was 18 years old. She was only 17. Maria Luisa’s life as Queen of Spain was complicated. Although Charles is often portrayed as helpless, he was not completely incapacitated and retained a certain degree of ability, both mental and physical. From the beginning, he was deeply enamored with his young wife, clearly captivated by her beauty. She, however, was much less enthusiastic. Confronted with his fragility and strange appearance, it is said that Maria Luisa was shocked.
Furthermore, their attempts to have children were unsuccessful, and this was almost certainly due to Charles’s condition, although court officials and government ministers did not speak of it in a very direct way. Furthermore, Maria Luisa found the Spanish court oppressively formal. Her movements were strictly controlled and her days rigidly structured, with meals eaten in silence and often alone.
She also clashed with Juan Francisco de la Cerda, the eighth Duke of Medinaceli, who became Charles’s chief minister in the 1680s. He believed that the French ambassador, Pierde Villars, had too much power at the Spanish court as a close confidant of Maria Luisa in Madrid. Villars was finally expelled from Spain in 1681, which led to a new war between France and Spain in 1683. During the War of the Reunions, Maria Luisa’s position at the Spanish court was especially difficult.
By the end of the 1680s, it had become clear that Maria Luisa would never have children. She was widely blamed for this failure and subjected to primitive fertility treatments that only worsened her health, leaving her with serious bowel problems. She had also developed a taste for sweetened drinks made with lemon, cinnamon, and lots of sugar, and began to gain weight.
At the beginning of February 1689, she fell seriously ill. The patient experienced a high fever accompanied by severe abdominal pain, seizures, and vomiting. Doctors were called, but there was little they could do. Her condition was declared fatal. Over the years, Maria Luisa had grown very fond of Charles, and on her deathbed, it is said that she told him:
“Many women may be with his majesty, but none will love him more than I do.”
Marie Louise of Orleans died on February 12, 1689, at only 26 years old. Carlos was devastated, and it is said that he loved her for the rest of his life. Rumors spread rapidly, particularly in France, that she had been poisoned. However, an autopsy found no evidence to support this. Her death was probably caused by appendicitis, although a severe case of food poisoning has also been suggested. She was buried in the royal crypt of El Escorial.
The death of Maria Luisa provoked a panic reaction in Madrid. Although few believed that Carlos could have children at that time, there had always been hope that he could. Furthermore, with his health continuing to decline, time was clearly working against him. Thus, within weeks, the search for Carlos’s second wife began.
The woman he finally chose was Mariana of Neuburg. She was born on October 28, 1667, in Benrath Palace, near Dusseldorf. She was the twelfth child of Philip William, Lord Palatine, one of the most powerful princes of the Holy Roman Empire, and his wife, Elizabeth Amalia of Hesse-Darmstadt. In a rare departure from established Habsburg protocol, Mariana was not too closely related to Charles, as they were only second cousins once removed. Although she came from a more humble ruling family, the Spanish government noted that her mother had given birth to at least 16 children, most of whom survived to adulthood, and they hoped that this fertility could be passed on to Mariana and result in her producing an heir to the Spanish throne.
Mariana was also described as attractive, tall, slim, and well-proportioned. Thus, in August 1689, only half a year after the death of Maria Luisa, Mariana and Carlos were married by proxy. The formal wedding took place in Spain on May 14, 1690, at the monastery of San Diego, near Valladolid. Mariana was 22 years old, while Carlos was 28.
When Mariana first saw her husband, she would have already known of his reputation for ill health and deformity, which had only worsened with age. Whatever she thought, she did not express it, and instead focused on her duty as queen. She did everything possible to produce an heir, maintaining infrequent relations with the king and even claiming to be pregnant on several occasions. At the same time, she encouraged Carlos to undergo fertility treatments, making it clear that the failure to produce an heir was not solely his fault.
As if that weren’t enough, it also became associated with the king’s exorcisms performed under the belief that he was bewitched. In Madrid, hostility towards the queen grew, and satirical verses circulated portraying her as a sinister, almost demonic figure. Despite this, Mariana soon gained status as the presumed mother of the future monarch and became an important figure at court and in European politics, while the British, Austrians, and Dutch maneuvered to ensure that the Austrian Habsburgs would claim the Spanish throne instead of a French candidate when Charles died.
Well, the figures at court expected Charles to die any year. In fact, all of Europe was expecting this to happen and foresaw an inevitable conflict if there was no one who could claim the throne. By the mid-1690s, Charles was largely bedridden and his body was failing. By then, it had become clear that their marriage was not going to produce children. Carlos was almost certainly impotent, and it was alleged that he only had one testicle, described as black as coal.
In November 1698, Charles published his will naming Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria as his successor, with the stipulation that he would inherit an undivided Spanish monarchy. José Fernando was the son of Carlos’s niece, Maria Antonia of Austria, and Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. For a moment, it seemed that the prolonged succession crisis had been resolved, but in 1699, disaster struck. José Fernando died suddenly, probably of typhoid fever, at only 6 years old, leaving the question of the Spanish succession completely open once again.
Charles resisted until November 1, 1700, surprising everyone by living to almost 39 years old. However, just before he died, he had altered all the plans when he appointed his French cousin, Philip of Anjou, as his new successor. This triggered the War of the Spanish Succession across Europe, with the French and Spanish fighting against a grand coalition led by the Austrians, British, and Dutch.
As a German dowager queen who had clearly been in favor of the Austrian succession, Mariana of Neuburg was left in a very difficult position after the death of her husband. She remained in Spain and began to play the traditional role of a widow, wearing black and commissioning a mourning portrait, while also trying to cultivate a friendly relationship with the new French-born king, Philip V. When he arrived in Spain, he was respectful and granted her a large pension. But as the war dragged on throughout the 1700s, Mariana became a huge burden on the Spanish treasury.
In Madrid, Spanish and French officials alike began to criticize her presence, and some viewed her as a fifth column of the Austrian Habsburgs in the Spanish court. As a result, Mariana was exiled to Toledo, where she led a quiet life. Then, in 1706, the war reached Spanish territory, and with Austrian and British forces advancing through the country, Mariana publicly declared her support for her nephew, Archduke Charles, who was poised to capture Toledo and was the Austrian candidate to succeed Charles II.
Consequently, she was exiled once again by the government of Philip V. She moved north of the Pyrenees and settled in the city of Bayonne in southwestern France, living a life in limbo until the War of the Spanish Succession ended with a series of peace agreements signed in the Dutch Republic between 1713 and 1714. Ultimately, the Bourbon candidate, Philip V of Spain, was confirmed as King of Spain. This occurred, however, on the condition that the crowns of France and Spain would never be united under a single ruler. As part of the agreement, the Austrian Habsburgs received the Spanish Netherlands along with Spain’s Italian territories, including Naples and Milan.
Mariana would live a long life as a widowed queen after the war ended. She continued to reside in Bayonne. It was typical for a widowed queen to remain in the country to which she had been confined after the death of her husband, so returning to Neuburg was not considered an option. Instead, she continued to reside in Bayonne during the 1720s and 1730s, where she maintained an aristocratic lifestyle, regularly commissioning portraits and corresponding with women from the royal houses of Europe. It is also believed that Mariana secretly married a local commoner in Bayonne, but the exact details have never been fully established.
Over the years, she had requested permission to cross the Pyrenees and return to Spain. This request was finally granted in 1738. After she fell ill, Mariana went to Pamplona and then to Guadalajara, where she died in the Palace of the Infantado on July 16, 1740, at the age of 72. She had no heirs and left all her possessions to Isabel Farnese, the Queen of Spain and wife of Philip V, who had tirelessly interceded on her behalf to allow her to return to Spain. She was buried in El Escorial next to Charles’s first wife, Maria Luisa. Her death marked the passing of the last queen of Spain in the Habsburg era.
