The Kingdom of Spain operates on male-preference primogeniture, which means that a younger brother will take precedence in the line of succession over any elder sisters. So, how many women missed out on becoming Queen of Spain because of this? We will look at Spain’s history from the dynastic union of King Ferdinand II of [read more]
Infanta Cristina of Spain was born on 13 June 1965 as the daughter of the future King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark. She was their second daughter. Her elder sister is Infanta Elena (born 1963), and her younger brother is King Felipe VI (born 1968). Felipe went ahead [read more]
Maria Manuela of Portugal was born on 15 October 1527 as the daughter of King John III of Portugal and his wife, Catherine of Austria. She was their second child but the first surviving one. Seven more siblings would follow, but just one brother would live long enough to father an heir. The archbishop of [read more]
Royal uncle-niece marriages happened several times over the years. These marriages often happened for strategic reasons, such as land or power, but also because of rank and status. There simply weren’t enough others of high enough rank for marriage. The offspring of such marriages often suffered from genetic abnormalities, such as the famous Habsburg jaw. [read more]
Joanna of Austria was born in Madrid on 24 June 1535 as the daughter of Isabella of Portugal and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. She would be their last surviving child, and she had two elder surviving siblings: the future King Philip II of Spain and Maria of Austria. At the time of her birth, [read more]
Infanta Margarita of Spain was born on 6 March 1939 as the third child and second daughter of Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona. She was born blind. Just a few days after her birth, she was baptised in the Spanish National Church of Santiago and Montserrat [read more]
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