On the surface, the notes from doctors who performed the autopsy on Charles II sound completely made up, relating conditions that were at the very least improbable, if not actually impossible. The notes read that Charles had (via Scielo) “a very small heart of the size of a grain of pepper, the lungs corroded, the intestines putrefactive and gangrenous, in the kidney three large stones, a single testicle as black as coal and his head full of water.” Sadly, Charles II had a difficult childhood, with many physical development delays and other challenges. He walked at age 6, breastfed until the age of 4, and lived through many viral and bacterial infections all throughout his young life, among other illnesses. Given the state of medicine at the time, at birth, his gender could not be firmly established. By age 10, Charles spoke only haltingly and could neither read nor write. 

For these reasons, those in the Spanish Court at the time called Charles “bewitched,” and because of this, the first decade of King Charles II’s reigns was a regency under the Queen Mother, as she handled affairs of state. Could all this be related to what doctors found inside his body after he died? For centuries, scientists have pondered whether those striking words written at the time of Charles’ autopsy were true, and if true, what conditions they might have described. There’s also long been speculation about what may have caused the unusual appearance of Habsburg family members, as well as the many physical challenges and mental delays Charles experienced throughout his life. That research has now produced some answers.

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