zhropkick
Banned
Studies have shown that it is reasonably common for a woman to have a kid with somebody other than the supposed father and have nobody notice. Millions of people who are walking around, sleeping or at work as you are reading this don't even suspect the real nature of their paternity, and it's been that way for all of human history. Genetic tests on the British royal family have shown that cheating and passing off the child as the husband's isn't absent from royal families either: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science...s-british-royal-family-may-not-have-royal-bl/
Could this have saved the Spanish Hapsburgs though? It seems very possible to have one of Charles II's wives (maybe an alternate one, maybe a real one as well) bang another guy CK2 style and fall pregnant to him. How likely would it be for the bastard to be mistaken for a legitimate child? Wouldn't a lot of people in the Spanish court, who basically act as babysitters for a disabled Hapsburg, have a vested interest in keeping the Spanish Empire intact by going along with the charade even though the baby might look nothing like a real Hapsburg (no Hapsburg jaw, et cetera). The kid would not be a Hapsburg by blood and wouldn't be affected by generations of inbreeding, so you'd basically be giving the family a fresh start if he could be passed off as legitimate. How likely is this to have been able to happen?
Could this have saved the Spanish Hapsburgs though? It seems very possible to have one of Charles II's wives (maybe an alternate one, maybe a real one as well) bang another guy CK2 style and fall pregnant to him. How likely would it be for the bastard to be mistaken for a legitimate child? Wouldn't a lot of people in the Spanish court, who basically act as babysitters for a disabled Hapsburg, have a vested interest in keeping the Spanish Empire intact by going along with the charade even though the baby might look nothing like a real Hapsburg (no Hapsburg jaw, et cetera). The kid would not be a Hapsburg by blood and wouldn't be affected by generations of inbreeding, so you'd basically be giving the family a fresh start if he could be passed off as legitimate. How likely is this to have been able to happen?