King Carlos II and Wives (Queen Maria Luisa and Queen Maria Ana)

[Marengo]

Carlos II, King of Spain; (Madrid, 6 November 1661 - Madrid, 1 November 1700), married 1stly in Quintanapalla on 19 November 1679 Princess Marie-Louise of Orleans (France), (Paris, 26 April 1662 - Madrid, 12 February 1689 ); married 2ndly by proxy in Ingolstadt on 28 August 1689 and in person in San Diego on 14 May 1690 Princess Marie Anne of Neuburg (Palatinate) (Düsseldorf, 28 October 1667 - Guadalajara, 16 July 1740)

Reign: 1665 - 1700; from 1665 to under the regency of his mother, Queen Mariana

Dynasty: Habsburg

Predecessor: King Felipe IV of Spain

Succeeded by: King Felipe V of Spain (Duke of Anjou)

Children: None

Parents Carlos: King Felipe IV of Spain and Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria

Parents Maria Luisa: Prince Phillipe of France, Duke of Orleans and Princess Henrietta of England

Parens Maria Ana: Philip Wilhelm, Elector Palentine and Princess Elisabeth-Amelie of Hesse-Darmstadt

Siblings Carlos: Archduchess Margarita of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, Queen of Hungary, Princess Maria Ambrocia of Spain, Prince Philp Prospero of Spain, Prince of Asturias and Prince Tomas Carlos of Spain

Half Siblings Carlos: Princess Maria Margarita, Princess Margarita Maria, Princess Maria Eugenia and Princess Isabel of Spain, Prince Baltasar Carlos of Spain, Prince of Asturias, Princess Maria Anna of Spain and Queen Maria Therese of France

Siblings Maria Luisa: Prince Philippe Charles of Orleans, Duke of Valois and Duchess Anne Marie of Savoy

Half Siblings Maria Luisa: Prince Alexandre Louis of Orleans, Duke of Valois; Phillipe, 2nd Duke of Orleans and regent of France and Duchess Elizabeth Charlotte of Lorraine


Siblings Maria Ana: Empress Eleonore Magdalena of Austria, Princess Maria Adelheid, Princess Sophie Elisabeth, Elector Johann Wilhelm, Prince Wolfgang Georg (Bisshop of Cologne), Prince Ludwig Anton (Bisshop of Worms), Elector Karl III Philip, Prince Alexander Sigismund (Prince-Bisshop of Augsburg), and Prince Franz Ludwig (Archbisshop of Trier and Mainz) of the Palatinate, Queen Maria Sofia of Portugal, Prince Philip Wilhelm of the Palatinate, Duchess Dorothea Sophie of Parma, Crown Princess Hedwig Elisabeth of Poland (Sobieski) and Electress Leopoldine Eleonore of Bavaria

 

[Marengo]

Charles II of Spain (Carlos II) (November 6, 1661, Madrid - November 1, 1700, Madrid) was King of Spain, ruling over nearly all of Italy (except Piedmont, the Papal States and Venice), the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from Mexico to the Philippines. Charles was the only surviving son of his Habsburg predecessor, King Philip IV of Spain and his second Queen (and niece), Mariana of Austria, another Habsburg. His birth was greeted with joy by the Spaniards, who feared the disputed succession which could have ensued if Philip IV had left no male heir.
Charles II is known in Spanish history as El Hechizado ("The Bewitched") from the popular belief — to which Charles himself subscribed — that his physical and mental disabilities were caused by "sorcery" rather than the much more likely cause: centuries of inbreeding within the Habsburg dynasty (in which first cousin and uncle/niece matches were commonly used to preserve a prosperous family's hold on its multifarious territories). Charles' own immediate pedigree was exceptionally populated with nieces giving birth to children of their uncles: Charles' mother was niece of Charles' father, being daughter of Maria Ana of Spain (1606-46) and Emperor Ferdinand III. Thus, Empress Maria Anna was simultaneously his aunt and grandmother. Still, the king was exorcised, and the exorcists of the kingdom were called upon to put straight questions to the devils they cast out. His great-great-great grandmother, Joanna I (Joanna the Mad), mother of the Spanish King Charles I who was also Holy Roman Emperor Charles V — became completely insane early in life; the fear of a taint of insanity ran through the Habsburgs. Charles descended from Joanna a total of 14 times — twice as a great-great-great grandson, and 12 times further.
Charles II was the last of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty, physically disabled, mentally retarded and disfigured (possibly through affliction with mandibular prognathism — he was unable to chew). His tongue was so large that his speech could barely be understood, and he frequently drooled. He may also have suffered from the bone disease acromegaly. He was treated as virtually an infant in arms until he was ten years old. Fearing the frail child would be overtaxed, he was left entirely uneducated, and his indolence was indulged to such an extent that he was not even expected to be clean. When his half-brother John of Austria the Younger, a natural son of Philip IV, obtained power by exiling the queen mother from court, he insisted that at least the king's hair should be combed.
The only vigorous activity shown by Charles was shooting, which he occasionally indulged in the preserves of the Escorial.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

Marie Louise of Orleans (26 April 1662, Palais Royal, Paris, France - 12 February 1689, Royal Alcazar, Madrid, Spain) Queen Consort of Spain from 1679 to 1689 as the first wife of King Charles II of Spain.
Marie Louise was the eldest daughter of Duke Philip I of Orleans and his first wife Princess Henrietta of England. She descended from both the French and English royal families, since her paternal grandparents were Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria while her maternal grandparents were Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. She was also a niece of King Louis XIV of France, King Charles II of England, King James II of England and Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange.
Marie Louise had a happy childhood in France, which she spent mostly in her father's residences, the Palais Royal in Paris and St Cloud Palace, outside the capital. In addition, Marie Louise spent a great deal of her time with her paternal grandmother, Anne of Austria, who doted on her and left the main bulk of her fortune to her when she died in 1666. Marie Louise also spent a lot of time with her maternal grandmother, Henrietta Maria of France, at her residence in Colombes, where she met her cousin, the future Queen Anne I of Great Britain, who spent a lot time in France during her childhood. Although Marie Louise lost her mother at the tender age of 8 in 1670, the following year her father married Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, who became like a mother to Marie Louise and her youngest sister Anne Marie. During the rest of her life, Marie Louise would maintain an affectionate correspondence with her step-mother.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[Marengo]

Maria Anna of Neuburg (Spanish: Mariana de Neoburgo; German: Maria Anna von der Pfalz-Neuburg) (28 October 1667 – 16 July 1740) was Queen consort of Spain from 1689 to 1700 as the second wife of King Charles II the Bewitched.
Born in Düsseldorf's Benrath Palace in Berg, she was the twelfth child of Philip William, Elector of the Palatinate and Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.
She spent her childhood in the castle of Neuburg, being raised by a German governess, Frau von Klau, together with her sisters Maria Sophia, Dorothea Sophia - to whom she was very close - and Hedwig Elizabeth. Her family affectionately called her Mariandl. Since an early age, she was physically attractive: tall, thin, red-haired and with a fair complexion. However, she was also known for being haughty, vain, authoritarian and selfish.
Marie Louise of Orleans, the first wife of Charles II of Spain, had died childless on 12 February 1689. Maria Anna was chosen out of the many candidates to become his second wife because her ancestors had been very fertile - her parents had had 23 children -. In addition, her eldest sister Eleonore was married to Emperor Leopold I so Spain's ties with the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs would become even stronger. The marriage by proxy took place on 28 August 1689 in Ingolstadt, Germany with the attendance of her brother-in-law Emperor Leopold and her sister Empress Eleonore among other illustrious guests. However, it took Maria Anna several months to arrive in Spain, which didn't happen until the spring of 1690. She married Charles in person on 14 May 1690 in San Diego, near Valladolid. Nevertheless, this marriage also remained childless, in all probability not because she was infertile herself but because of the king's health problems.
During her time as queen, Maria Anna dominated her husband through her bursts of anger and her imaginary pregnancies. In addition, she was actively involved in several intrigues in the Spanish court and wanted her nephew, Archduke Charles of Austria, to become the next King of Spain. Needless to say, she was in very bad terms with her mother-in-law, Mariana of Austria, the Queen Mother, who wanted her great-grandson, Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, to become the next Spanish King. After a lot of unpleasant arguments, the Queen Mother stated: "Two suns cannot live in the same sky". Once during an argument between the two royal ladies, the Queen Mother told her: "Learn to live, lady, and know once and for all that people far higher than you have humbled themselves before me, people over whom you have only one advantage, that you are the wife of my son, an honour which you owe to me alone." The hysterical Maria Anna replied: "That is why I hate you so much!"

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

 

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Whether is mattered or not, at least the Habsburg family had enough sense not to marry Carlos II to a niece or 1st cousin!

 

[Royal Fan]

Wasnt There an Uncle Prince Juan o..something who married his niece It was in a a book called Treaserey of Royal Scandals

 

[An Ard Ri]

Royal Anniversary - November 1st,Death of Carlos II of Spain

Carlos II was the last Spanish Habsburg Monarch,The House of Bourbon have been the reigning Royal house for most of the time since his death.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Royal Anniversary - November 6th,1661-Birth of Carlos II of Spain.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

King Carlos II from his deathbed
http://www.gettyimages.com/license/929605124

 

[Blog Real]

The Spain of Carlos II (1661-1700): decline of Spain during the reign of the last Austria. King of weak and sickly constitution known as 'The Bewitched'. He is married twice, but had no offspring. On his death, the War of Succession caused by Felipe de Anjou, the French suitor, grandson of Louis XIV, and Archduke Charles of Austria took place. Carlos II appoints his heir to Felipe de Anjou with whom the Bourbons come to the throne of Spain.

https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/memoria-de-espana/memoria-espana-decadencia-imperio/3278803/

 

[shady lady]

I've always felt very sorry for this guy. From what I've read of his life it was a miserable one from start to finish

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Queen Maria Anna of Neuburg

 

[shady lady]

Found this 2019 article from Spanish newspaper El Pais (in English) about Carlos and the Habsburgs

https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/12/03/inenglish/1575367613_121836.html

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Portrait of King Charles II of Spain

Portrait of Charles II, king of Spain

Portrait of Charles II, king of Spain. Origin: Italy. Date: c 1750 – c 1799. Object ID: RP-P-1905-1243.

www.lookandlearn.com

 

[shady lady]

Portrait of King Charles II of Spain

Portrait of Charles II, king of Spain

Portrait of Charles II, king of Spain. Origin: Italy. Date: c 1750 – c 1799. Object ID: RP-P-1905-1243.

www.lookandlearn.com

Thank you for posting this, as it has reminded me that back along I bought a book to read about Charles called Memoirs of Spain during the Reigns of Philip IV and Charles II from 1621 to 1700, written by John Colin Dunlop and originally published in 1834. My copy is a paperback reprint, but the contents are presented in its original form. It is Volume II in the series and begins with Charles's accession to throne in 1665 when he was still a child. Hopefully I will get around to reading it soon. If anyone else has read it perhaps they could share their thoughts.