Carlos, Prince of Asturias
1545 – 1568 · Generation XI · Prince of Asturias · Austrian Habsburgs
Carlos (1545 – 1568). Prince of Asturias. Son of Philip II and Maria Manuela; died young and disturbed. Born at Valladolid, he lost his mother four days later. The child of double first cousins, he had legs of unequal length and a curved spine. Raised by his aunts and seldom seen by his father, he grew spoiled and violent. His betrothal to Elisabeth of Valois gave way to her marriage with Philip, and a later agreement that he would wed Anna of Austria was repeatedly postponed. A fall down a staircase at Alcalá in 1562 almost killed him, and after his recovery he became wilder still. Passed over for the governorship of the Netherlands, he tried to attack the Duke of Alba, and later to shoot John of Austria. On 17 January 1568 Philip had him arrested in the Alcázar of Madrid; weakened by hunger strikes, he died in confinement that July — a death later exploited in the Black Legend and retold by Schiller and Verdi.
Place in the family
- Carlos, Prince of Asturias was a grandson of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
One of 24 people of Austrian Habsburgs (1527–1754) in this archive. The Vienna line, which held the Holy Roman crown almost without a break.
Line of descent: Rudolf I of Germany → Albert I of Germany → Albert II, Duke of Austria → Leopold III, Duke of Austria → Ernest, Duke of Austria → Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor → Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip I of Castile → Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor → Philip II of Spain → Carlos, Prince of Asturias.
Parents
- Philip II of Spain (1527 – 1598)
- Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal (1527 – 1545)
Siblings
- Philip III of Spain (1578 – 1621) (half)