Gathering Leaves

Ancestors of Charles II, King of Spain

Seventeenth-century European noble culture commonly matched cousin to first cousin and uncle to niece, to preserve a prosperous family's properties. Charles's own immediate pedigree was exceptionally populated with nieces giving birth to children of their uncles: Charles's mother was niece of Charles's father, being daughter of Maria Anna of Spain (1606/46) and Emperor Ferdinand III. Thus, Empress Maria Anna was simultaneously his aunt and grandmother.

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