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The Bewitched King - Spain's Charles II at the End of an Era
In this episode, we dive into one of the most tragic and consequential figures in European history: King Charles II of Spain. Often remembered by his haunting moniker, El Hechizado (The Bewitched), Charles II’s life was a crossroads of genetic misfortune, political instability, and a looming dynastic vacuum that would eventually set the entire continent ablaze.
We begin by exploring the physical and mental toll of generations of Habsburg inbreeding. Charles II was the culmination of a "family circle" rather than a family tree. With a coefficient of inbreeding higher than that of siblings born…
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