Featured Image Credit: Juan Carreño de Miranda
Topics: History
Joe Yates
When it comes to keeping it in the family, royals take the cake.
It will come as no surprise that three of the most inbred people in the history of the human race are noble-born, but unfortunately that is the case for an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, an emperor of Austria and a Spanish king.
Let's kick it off with the Spaniard, Charles II.
He was born back in 1661, and was part of the incredibly dysfunctional Habsburg dynasty - a notoriously inbred family who didn't want to share any of their wealth and power with outsiders.
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This stance led to his parents actually being uncle and niece to each other, while his grandma was also his aunt... I'm sure family reunions were difficult - or was it just an orgy?
We'll divulge what conditions the three royals were born into later.
Next up we have Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I, born in 1793, his parents were first cousins with all their grandparents.
He himself married a distant cousin of his, Maria Anna of Piedmont-Sardinia.
Finally, there's Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who was born around 1341 BC. He is believed to be the son of Akhenaten - a pharaoh who married one of his own sisters.
Following in his mum and dad, who doubled up as his auntie and uncle, he wed his own sister - but the pair were unable to conceive, while two miscarried fetuses were tragically found in his near-perfectly intact tomb.
Without further ado, we'll touch on the shocking conditions these royals were born with.
Since we've just been talking about Tutankhamun, we'll start with his heartbreaking scoliosis condition.
He is believed to have been born with scoliosis, which is a condition where the spinal cord curves left to right - and in severe cases it causes pain and an uneven posture.
The young king died at the age of 19, his corpse was found with a clubbed foot, a cleft palate and a degenerative disease that was eating through the bone in his left foot.
Ferdinand I was born with hydrocephalus - which is when excess fluid is surrounding a baby's brain. In the Austrian's case, it led to him having a notably large head.
Due to being a product of incest, he also had difficulties with his speech and frequently suffered with seizures due to epilepsy, which leads us onto the final condition.
As just mentioned, Ferdinand I also suffered with epilepsy and is even believed to have suffered one seizure during his wedding. Despite his genetic defects, he died at the grand old age of 82, in 1875.
Like the Austrian, Charles II also lived with epilepsy.
Before his death at the age of just 38, the Spanish king notably lived with a protruding bottom jaw - which is now commonly known as Habsburg jaw, as well as suffering with developmental problems.
After his death an autopsy was carried out that reportedly found him with a hear as small as a peppercorn and a blackened testicle.