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Two Hundred Years of Inbreeding Among European Royals Is To Blame for a Facial Deformity Known as The ‘Habsburg Jaw’, Scientists Claim

The Habsburg jaw — the prominent facial deformity that affected the European royal family of the same name — was the result of 200 years of inbreeding, a study has found. Geneticists and surgeons analysed the deformities visible in various portraits of the dynasty and compared this with the amount of inbreeding across their family tree.

The House of Habsburg produced various Austrian and Spanish kings and queens — and they occupied the throne of the Holy Roman Empire from 1438–1740. The generations of intermarriage that secured the family’s influence, however, ultimately proved fatal — Charles II of Spain was incapable of producing an heir.

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Source: geneanet

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