Charles II of Spain - Early Life

Early Life

Born in the capital of the vast Spanish empire, Madrid, and as the only surviving male heir of his father's two marriages (the only brother of Charles to survive infancy was Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias, who died at the age of 16 in 1646), he was named the Principe de Asturias as his heir.

When Charles was four, his father died and his mother was made his regent—a position she retained during much of his reign. Though she was exiled by the king's illegitimate half-brother John of Austria the Younger, she returned to the court after John's death in 1679. The queen mother managed the country's affairs through a series of favourites ("validos"), whose merits usually amounted to no more than meeting the queen's fancy. The sheer size of the kingdom at that time made this kind of government increasingly damaging to the realm's affairs.

Not having learned to speak until the age of four nor to walk until eight, Charles was treated as virtually an infant until he was ten years old. Fearing the frail child would be overtaxed, his caretakers did not force Charles to attend school. The indolence of the young Charles was indulged to such an extent that at times he was not expected to be clean. When his half-brother Don John of Austria, a natural son of Philip IV, obtained power by exiling the queen mother from court, he covered his nose and insisted that the king at least brush his hair.

The only vigorous activity in which Charles is known to have participated was shooting. He occasionally indulged in the sport in the preserves of the Escorial.