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The inbred Habsburg royals are a historical curiosity that continues to baffle and amaze many. Centuries of intermarriage within their own family—cousins, uncles, aunts—resulted in severe physical and mental defects among the Habsburgs. Ferdinand I of Austria is a notable example. Despite his many health issues, he lived to the age of 82, which was remarkable given the circumstances. Ferdinand was mentally challenged and unstable, rendering him largely incapable of fulfilling his royal duties. He was known for making unreasonable demands, such as insisting on out-of-season food simply because, in his words, “I’m the Emperor!” Suffering up to twenty seizures a day, Ferdinand was considered unlikely to produce an heir. During his first attempt to consummate his marriage, he experienced five seizures, and despite his efforts, he never succeeded in fathering a child. In 1848, his nephew Franz-Joseph took over the throne, allowing Ferdinand to retire peacefully—a retirement he seemed to enjoy until his death in 1875. Charles II of Spain, another Habsburg, suffered even more severe consequences of inbreeding. Known as ‘the bewitched,’ his jaw was so malformed from generations of incest that he could barely breathe or speak. He remained childish longer than most men and became senile early. By thirty, he was completely bald, though portraits depict him wearing wigs. A French ambassador, expressing pity for Charles’s future wife, described him as “an imbecile so ugly as to cause fear and obviously unwell.” Despite two marriages, Charles II never produced an heir. His first wife endured painful fertility treatments, wrongly blamed for their childlessness when it was likely Charles who was infertile. The autopsy of Charles II revealed shocking details: a heart the size of a peppercorn, corroded lungs, rotten intestines, a single black testicle, and a head full of water. It’s astonishing that the Habsburgs, despite centuries of suffering, never seemed to realize that their practice of incest was the root cause of their numerous health problems.