Royal deaths and diseases
Tainted blood
The
history of monarchy is littered with, strange unexplained illnesses, madness
and premature death – all the result of royal inter-marriage. In
trying to preserve their blood lines, royal families throughout the world
have spread genetic disease.
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Prince Carlos of Spain (1545-68) was severely damaged at birth (see Royal childbirth). But even if he had been a perfect physical specimen, his life would probably have been blighted by mental illness inherited from one of his great-grandparents.
This inheritance was much more likely because of a series of incestuous marriages carried out by his immediate ancestors. Instead of the usual eight great-grandparents, Carlos has only four and two of those were sisters – Maria of Castile and Juana La Loca (The Mad), countess of Flanders and queen of Castile.
Juana, as her nickname implies, suffered from severe mental illness, as had her grandmother, Isabel of Portugal. It was through Juana that inherited insanity entered the Habsburg dynasty. Following the death of her husband in 1506, Juana and her youngest daughter Catalina were incarcerated in the castle of Tordesillas, first by Juana's father and then by her son, the future Holy Roman emperor Charles V. Carlos was Charles V's grandson.
Even as a child, Carlos was a handful. He didn't begin talking until the age of five, and always remained hard to understand. He was extremely strong-willed, with a wild, unpredictable temper. By nine, he was torturing little girls, servants and animals, at one time maiming a stable of horses so severely that 25 had to be destroyed. He also liked to roast small animals alive – especially hares.
Carlos's education was sporadic and then fizzled out through lack of interest. Following a serious fall, his conduct became increasingly erratic, violent and sadistic. In the royal account books are entries concerning money given to the fathers of girls 'beaten by order of His Highness'.
It was generally believed that the prince would be unable to perform sexually, at least well enough to produce an heir. He underwent a 'cure' carried out by apothecaries and physicians, and boasted that he had successfully passed the final test. The doctors, however, thought that the results were inconclusive.
Carlos seems to have daydreamed about ruling part or all of the realm of his father, Philip II of Spain – over the Netherlands, where a Protestant uprising raged, or the entirety of Spain with the help of his illegitimate uncle Juan. There are suggestions that he may have actually plotted with some of the Dutch leaders or with his uncle. In any event, he told his confessor that he wanted to kill 'a man' and it appeared very much as if that 'man' was Philip, who – perhaps understandably – had become increasingly hostile towards his son.
On 17 January 1568, Philip arrested Carlos and locked him in the tower of Arévalo castle. The prince went on hunger strike; he was force-fed soup. On 9 July, he was found guilty of treason for having plotted the death of his father and conspired to become ruler of the Netherlands. He was sentenced to death, but there was no need to prepare an execution. Carlos was suffering from raging fevers and vomiting, and by 24 July he was dead – from slow poisoning, it was said.
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While she was queen of France in 1559-60, the future Mary Queen of Scots (1542-87) first showed signs of the recurring illness – abdominal pain, vomiting and bouts of hysteria – from which she would suffer until the end of her life. Some historians now believe that these were symptoms of porphyria, an hereditary condition that would afflict a number of her descendants.
Its effects on Mary's ability to rule were disastrous, and she often appeared close to death. In 1566, her courtiers ordered mourning dress as their queen lay seemingly dead at Jedburgh. However, her surgeon Arnault revived her by tightly bandaging her big toes, legs and arms, pouring wine into her mouth and giving her a 'clyster' (enema).
After her husband Lord Darnley's murder in 1567, Mary had a complete mental and physical breakdown, during which she married the earl of Bothwell. Her army deserted her, Bothwell fled and she was imprisoned in Loch Leven castle, where she miscarried twins.
Later, as a state prisoner of the English, she was prescribed cinnamon water, unicorn's horn and bathing in wine (Queen Elizabeth complained of the cost). She was also allowed to 'take the waters' at Buxton Spa.
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Prince Carlos of Spain was not the only Spanish heir to be struck down by the streak of Habsburg madness. Perhaps the most 'perfect' example of the terrible results of inbreeding was Carlos II (1661-1700), who became king of Spain at the age of three in 1665 – his father and mother were uncle and niece.
Witnesses at the time described Carlos as a monstrosity. His Habsburg jaw was so big that the two rows of teeth could not meet; therefore, he could not chew. His tongue was so large that he could barely speak. Mentally he wasn't much better off. He was breastfed by wet nurses until the age of five or six, and could hardly walk until he was almost fully grown. But he never developed properly and remained an invalid child and, later, a childish invalid.
Carlos was subject to the regency of his mother Mariana. When he was 14, in 1675, he was presented with a decree continuing her rule because of his own incapacity. He refused to sign the document, but after a two-hour meeting with his mother, he gave in. It was his last act of rebellion.
It was obvious from his birth that the prince would be unable to consummate any marriage he might be part of, but this did not stop the powers-that-be from choosing brides for him. His first was Marie Louise of Orléans, niece of Louis XIV. She struggled to become pregnant for 10 years, to no avail. Eventually she sought comfort in food and died at the age of 27. Within three months, Carlos was a groom again, this time to Maria Ana, the daughter of the Elector Palatine. She went through an exorcism to promote her fertility, but with equally unsuccessful results.
As well as any inherited afflictions, Carlos may have been suffering from acromegaly, a genetic disease that leads to great overgrowth of bone, which would have explained his over-large head. Other conditions from which he suffered – ulcers, diseased bone and teeth, nervous disorders – could have resulted from him contracting syphilis at birth, the result, perhaps, of his father's many trips to the Madrid brothels.
As he entered his 30s, Carlos became increasingly disabled. He was lame, suffered epileptic fits, was bald, had lost most of his teeth and was extremely myopic. At 37, he had a series of fits, which left him deaf. Two years later, he was dead. His death led to the War of the Spanish Succession, which involved another Habsburg unfortunate, Philip V.
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From an early age, Frederick William I (1688-1740), king of Prussia, was afflicted by migraines and stomach cramps, attacks of which were usually very violent. During attacks in 1734 and 1739/40, the king's doctors recorded that his urine was 'very red' – a sign of the porphyria, that he had inherited from his mother, Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, who was descended from Mary Queen of Scots. Several of his children's medical histories suggest that they, too, suffered from this genetic disorder.
Frederick William suffered his first attack in 1707, at the age of 19, with a sudden increase of temperature, colic, skin rash and fainting fits. He was depressed and had outbreaks of rage. From the age of 39, he became increasingly irascible. He would get into blind rages over the least important things, striking at all within reach, breaking teeth and noses, then sit silently weeping for hours on end. An insomniac, he would spend whole nights wandering aimlessly.
The most frequent victim of his outbursts was his son Fritz, the future Frederick the Great. Whenever they met, Frederick William would seize him by the throat and throw him to the ground, force him to kiss his boots and beg forgiveness. He would then end the encounter by saying: 'If my father had treated me like this, I would have put an end to my life long ago. But you have no courage.'
In 1730, August II of Poland invited Frederick William and Fritz for an immense military extravaganza in Saxony. Amid the jousting, Frederick William seized the 18-year-old Fritz, kicked him, beat him, dragged him along the ground by his hair and sent him off, bleeding and dishevelled, to make an official appearance.
Fritz made plans to flee to Britain, but the scheme failed and he was imprisoned at Küstrin on a charge of desertion. Frederick William would have executed him but for the intercession of the Holy Roman emperor. However, Fritz was forced to watch as his lieutenant, friend and accomplice Hans Hermann von Katte was beheaded. Frederick William also wanted to disinherit Fritz, but in the end, he pardoned and released him. The young man laid low until his father's death in 1740.
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There was a history of insanity in the family of Ludwig II (1845-86), king of Bavaria. His aunt, Princess Alexandra, thought that she had swallowed a grand piano made of glass, while his younger brother Otto suffered weeping fits and barked like a dog – he was incarcerated in about 1876.
