The Cursed Life of History's Most Inbred Princess

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Born into royalty but cursed from the start, Maria Antonia was a product of generation after generation of imbreeding. At just 16, she was trapped in a cold and loveless marriage and was then haunted by a string of tragic pregnancies. Misery followed her like a shadow and misfortune clung to her every step.

But was she cursed by fate or was she paying for something far more sinister? Maria Antonia of Austria was born on the 18th of January 1669 in the Hofberg Palace in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Her father was Leopold I, a very powerful man.

He was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. Her mother was Margaret Theresa of Spain, a daughter of King Philip IVth of Spain and Mariana of Austria. As you may or may not be aware, both of Maria Antonia's parents came from the mighty House of Hapsburg, a dynasty that had conquered much of Europe, not through war, but thanks to strategic marriages and a bit of luck.

The House of Hapsburg had royal lions in both Spain and Austria, and they had been intermaring since the early 1500s. But as time passed, their obsession with keeping power turned into something far more twisted. They weren't just marrying distant relatives.

No, they took it to extremes. Second cousins, first cousins, even uncles and nieces. And these centuries of relentless inbreeding culminated in Maria Antonia.

She wasn't just the product of one unfortunate match. She was the result of generation after generation of uncle niece marriages compounding the dynasty's genetic decay. Of course, her parents were uncle and niece, too.

Somewhat disturbingly, her mother Margaret Theresa even affectionately called her husband uncle. All of this meant that Maria Antonia was the most imbred Hapsburg of all time, surpassing even her infamous uncle, Charles II of Spain. She had such a high inbreeding coefficient that she was more inbred than a child born from a parent offspring or brother sister union.

So, what did this mean for Maria Antonia? Would she suffer the same tragic fate as Charles II? Or had she somehow escaped the curse of her family's obsession?

Miraculously, Maria Antonia was born healthy and was a relatively normal child, defying expectations given her extreme inbreeding. But she was the exception, not the rule. As the second child of her parents' deeply incestrous marriage, she was the only one to survive past infancy, likely a result of the centuries of imbreeding that had weakened her bloodline.

Her parents' first child was a boy named Ferdinand, who died a year before Maria Antony was born. Two other children, John and Maria Anna, were born in 1617 1672. Sadly, they both passed away as well within hours or days of being born.

Then, to make matters worse, her mother, Margaret Theresa, a frail and sickly woman, died in March 1673 at just 21 years old. The years of inbreeding had taken their toll, and like so many Habsburgs before her, she was physically weak and plagued by poor health. Maria Antonia was left motherless at just 4 years old and as the only surviving child of her parents' deeply imbred union, she was suddenly thrust into a precarious position.

She was a potential heir to the Arch Duchy of Austria, but only until her father remarried and produced a male heir. Austria had never had a female ruler, and no one was even sure if the law would allow it. If Leopold died unexpectedly, would the nobles accept a female ruler or would Austria plunge into chaos?

And Maria Antonia wasn't just a possible heir to Austria. She also had a strong claim as successor to the Spanish throne, placing her at the center of one of the most powerful and unstable dynasties in Europe. Maria Antonia might have been the most imbred Habisburg of all time, but it was her uncle Carlos, known as Charles II of Spain, who had suffered most from it.

From the moment he was born, his body was failing him. He suffered from a horrifying array of health issues, intellectual disability, skeletal deformities that left him barely able to walk, and a body that aged far too quickly, leading to early onset dementia. But his most infamous trait, the monstrous Habsburg jaw, so severely deformed that he could barely chew his food.

Charles inherited the Spanish throne in 1665, just before his fourth birthday. He would never be able to rule by himself though and constantly needed advisers and proxies who ruled on his behalf. As a result, there was constant talk of the succession in the courts of Europe.

With her mother's death in March 1673, Maria Antonia became the legitimate heir to her uncle, King Charles II of Spain. Though just 11 years old at the time, Charles's frail health and severe disabilities left many to wonder if he could even father a child. This made Maria Antonia the presumed future queen of Spain, destined to inherit not just the Spanish throne, but its vast empire stretching across Europe, the Americas, and beyond.

And given Charles's deteriorating condition, that day could come much sooner than anyone expected. As a result of all of this, Maria Antonia lived her life under a microscope. Diplomats scrutinized her actions when they visited the court at Vienna, and her father sought to promote the idea that she would one day succeed Charles.

This resulted in a lot of Hapsburg propaganda. Maria Antonia sat for numerous portraits in her youth, a common practice for royals. Her father used these paintings to promote her claim to the Spanish throne, sending them across Europe and to Spain to make her visible to the people and solidify her status.

This was necessary because she was a woman. Had there been a male heir to the Spanish throne living in Vienna, there would have been no need for propaganda efforts like this. But the fear of female rule ran deep, and the idea of a woman inheriting Spain's vast empire was enough to send shock waves through Europe's courts.

As Maria Antonia grew up in Vienna, she remained blissfully unaware of the political storm surrounding her. While the great powers of Europe debated her fate, she was raised like any highborn Hapsburg princess, wrapped in courtly formality, and surrounded by attendance catering to her every need. Her education was fitting for a royal woman of her time, Latin, French, music, and basic elements of the humanist curriculum.

Those who met her described her as quiet and serious, yet intelligent and distinguished. But after her mother's death, life became even more rigid. That being said, Maria Antonia did have a quick succession of stepmothers.

Within months of his wife's death, Liupold married his second cousin, Arch Duchess Claudia Felicitas of Austria, a member of the Tierles branch of the Hapsburgs. Maria Antonia had a good and close relationship with her stepmother, but she too died young in 1676 of tuberculosis. Leopold then married a third wife, a German noble woman who was also his second cousin, Eleanor Magdalene of Noberg.

She and Leopold would have 10 children. So almost every year, Maria Antonia would have a new half sibling. When a boy named Joseph was born of this third marriage in 1678, it meant that there was finally a male heir to Liabot's titles.

Now Maria Antonia was only the heir to the Spanish throne. Though as we have seen the question of whether she would succeed Charles in Madrid remained problematic. Of course there was always another possibility.

Maria Antonia could produce a son of her own, a Habsburg prince who would be the perfect male heir to claim the Spanish throne. Her father ever the strategist was already plotting this future while she was still just a child. Knowing that a male successor could secure Spain for their bloodline once and for all.

To secure the Spanish throne, Leopold made a shocking proposal. He intended to marry his six-year-old daughter, Maria Antonia, to her own uncle, 13-year-old Charles II of Spain. Even in a family notorious for inbreeding, this match was surprising.

Not just because they were uncle and niece, but because neither was ready for marriage. Charles hadn't even reached puberty, and Maria was far too young to bear children. Despite this, in 1676, their engagement was formally announced, and a proxy wedding was planned for December.

But at the last moment, it all fell apart. The following year, Charles informed Leupold that he couldn't go through of it. Spain needed an heir and his niece was simply too young.

In the end, Charles II married Marie Louise Dolon in 1679, seemingly closing the door on Maria Antonia's chance to become queen of Spain. In its place, a new plan emerged. She was to marry Victor Amade II, the young Duke of Zavoi, who had inherited his title at just 9 years old in 1675.

But this match never materialized. Instead, in 1685, Maria Antony was wed to her second cousin, Maxmleon II, Prince Elector of Bavaria. At just 16, she left Vienna for Munich, beginning a new life with her husband.

Before long, Maxmillian was appointed governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and the couple spent much of their time in Brussels. In Munich and Brussels, Maria Antonia was immensely unhappy. On the surface, the marriage match was not a bad one.

Maxmillian was only a few years older than her, and they were distant enough relatives to somewhat lessen the Hapsburg in breeding. But there were other problems. He was a social extrovert and she was a studious introvert who disliked court ceremonies.

Maximleian often treated her with disregard and a contemporary even referred to him as one of the most perverse minds and hearts that one can imagine. Maximleian wasted no time betraying his young wife, openly parading his mistress, while Maria Antonia endured the cold, loveless marriage she had been forced into. Yet her greatest suffering came not from her unfaithful husband, but from her own cursed bloodline.

Like so many of her tragically imbred ancestors, she struggled with pregnancy, and two of her sons were lost at birth in 1689 and 1690. By 1691, Maria Anton was done. Pregnant once more and unwilling to endure Maximillian's humiliations, she fled to Vienna, leaving behind her faithless husband.

Rumors now swelled that she had no intention of returning to him. Then in October 1692, against the odds, she gave birth to a healthy son, Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, the child who could change the course of European history. But Maria Antonia's battle for survival, was far from over.

The Spanish court erupted with joy at the birth of Joseph Ferdinand, the long-awaited heir. But this moment of triumph came at a devastating cost. His mother's life.

Maria Antonia suffered from a postpartum infection, a condition that today could be easily cured with antibiotics. But in the 17th century, there was no such salvation. The body either fought off the infection or succumbed to it.

As the weeks passed, her fever raged and her strength faded. By December, it was clear that she was losing the battle. Then, on Christmas Eve 1692, at just 23 years old, Maria Antonia took her final breath, leaving behind her infant son, Joseph Ferdinand, the fragile hope for Spain's future.

But with his succession still uncertain, Europe's great powers were already watching and waiting. Maria Antonia's death cast wide open the issue of the Spanish succession. It was clear by then that her uncle Charles could not have children, and his health was dreadful.

Contemporaries expected him to die every year throughout the 1690s, though in the end he struggled on until late 1700. In the years following Maria Antonia's death, the Austrian Habsburgs fought fiercely to cement their claim to the Spanish throne and its vast empire. Their argument, Maria Antonia's son, young Joseph Ferdinand, was the right forair.

After all, he wasn't just any claimment. He was the great grandson of King Philip IV, who had ruled Spain from 1621 to 1665, making his bloodline one of the strongest ties to the fading Spanish dynasty. Most observers at the Spanish court agreed that Maria's son was the most eligible candidate to succeed Charles when he died.

However, the French royal house of Borbin also had a claim. Philip IVth's daughter, Maria Theresa, had married Louis the 14th, King of France, back in 1660, a marriage that led to many children and grandchildren. Of these grandchildren was a boy named Philillip, the great grandson of King Philip III of Spain, who had ruled way back at the start of the 17th century.

He might have been overlooked entirely if not for tragedy. In 1699, Maria Antony's only surviving son, Joseph Ferdinand, died of smallox, the deadliest disease of the era. With his death, the Austrian Hapsburg's claim to the Spanish throne crumbled, forcing them to shift their ambitions to one of Liupold's younger sons, Charles, who would soon become the new contender for Spain's vast empire.

When King Charles II eventually died childless on November 1st, 1700, the Spanish Hapsburg dynasty came to an end. On his deathbed, Charles made a fateful decision. He named the French candidate Philillip as his heir, ensuring Spain would align with France.

But this sparked outrage across Europe. The Austrians, backed by England and the Dutch, refused to accept this. And within months, the continent was engulfed in war.

Thus, in 1701, the brutal war of Spanish succession began, a 13-year struggle that drew in nearly every major European power. In the end, the French candidate prevailed and Philip V took the Spanish throne. But with a catch, Spain and France were forbidden from uniting under a single crown.

Meanwhile, the Austrians were compensated with Spain's vast European holdings, including Belgium, Milan, Naples, and Sardinia. Had Maria Antonia or her son lived, the succession might have been far less chaotic and history very different. Thank you so much everyone for watching this video on Maria Antonia, the most inbred Hapsburg.

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