Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society29 Juli 2025

How Incestuous Were The Habsburgs?

People will do crazy things to keep hold of power.

The Habsburgs - one of the most powerful families in European history - were a prime example of this. To keep hold of their power, they decided they would keep their gene pool as small as possible.

What were the disastrous consequences of this incest? How common was incest in royal families? And how did it all end for this dynasty, which included Charles II of Spain and Marie Antoinette?

Helping Kate get to know them is historian, Associate Professor in History at Northeastern University London and descendent of the Habsburgs(!), Estelle Paranque.

This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

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