Spanish painter Dego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez once created an oil painting: the royal couple seemed to be sitting in the studio for the painter to make their portrait when the little princess burst in, instantly becoming the center of the entire painting.
The painting later became known as "Las Meninas," and the little princess was Margarita Teresa, the full sister of Carlos II, Spain's last king from the Habsburg dynasty.
Philip the Handsome's two wives bore him five sons in total. The first four had all died, and his fifth son, Carlos II, inherited the throne at the age of four.
But Carlos II had congenital epilepsy and was so frail that he could die at any moment, unable to endure the education expected of a monarch. Among the Habsburg dynasty's sufferers of the family affliction of protruding jaws, he was the most severe. His jaw was so enormous that he could not chew. His tongue was also so large that no one could understand what he said. Carlos II was not weaned until he was five, and because he limped, he did not learn to walk until he was ten. The only sign of masculinity he displayed was his interest in hunting; he occasionally immersed himself in the animal park of El Escorial Monastery.
Even considering his status as king, there was no shortage of women willing to marry him, but he could no longer have children.
In theory, if her younger brother Carlos died, Margarita Teresa could inherit the Spanish throne. People had hoped for a healthy male heir. During her final pregnancy, Margarita Teresa contracted bronchitis. Combined with the increasing weakness of her body after four births and at least two miscarriages, it ultimately led to her early death on March 12, 1673, at only