22 May

Archduchess Carolina Ferdinanda passed away on 22 May 1832. She was one of the many children of Emperor Francis II and Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. Known for her mild and kind nature, she was, like many Habsburg archduchesses, a gifted artist — but she also suffered from epilepsy. She married Frederick Augustus of Saxony, but after a dozen years of an unhappy and childless marriage, her story seems to come to an unremarkable end.

And yet, her life reflects a deeper pattern within Habsburg family politics. Although the most infamous examples of inbreeding date from the 17th century, the dynasty did not appear to learn from them. Carolina Ferdinanda’s parents were double first cousins, sharing the same four grandparents. Of their twelve children, five died in infancy, and at least four others were affected to varying degrees by genetic disorders. Carolina Ferdinanda’s brother, Emperor Ferdinand, was virtually unable to rule due to hydrocephalus and epilepsy. Her sister, Maria Anna, mentally disabled and physically deformed, lived her life in seclusion. Another brother, Archduke Francis Charles — an indecisive and ineffective man — only gained historical significance by fathering Emperor Francis Joseph.

Despite all the tragedies that had once brought their dynasty to the brink of extinction, the Habsburgs continued their fateful practice of close-kin marriage.