WI Don Carlos Is Sane

For those of you who don't know, Don Carlos was the eldest son of Philip II of Spain. However, he was insane due to inbreeding among his Aviz ancestors. So, what if he was normal? After King Sebastian of Portugal and Cardinal Henry, Carlos as heir to the Portuguese throne as well. What effects would this have on world history? What if?
 

Razgriz 2K9

Banned
Assuming events still happen as per OTL, and assuming Philip dies on schedule in 1598, we may see *Charles II be King, though probably for less than 10 years or so.

Charles would be King of Spain and Portugal, Though he did get a potential match OTL with Mary, the Queen of Scots. Unless that marriage came to be (and thus his son would put Spain in PU with Scotland too), I got nothing more to add.
 
Wouldn't Carlos become King of Portugal in 1580? Assuming Sebastian dies on schedule (which going by his personality seems reasonable) Carlos would have a superior claim to his father. So Carlos would be King of Portugal for about 18 years before inheriting Spain. I wonder if this would lead to the Habsburgs favoring Portugal over Spain for a bit, with Carlos and his family residing in Portugal for 18 years. Also, there's a high chance Don Carlos would marry his original fiance, Elisabeth de France, Philip II's third wife. After all, if Carlos isn't crazy then there's a better chance of Philip not stealing his son's bride. If so, that creates the question of who Philip marrys. Perhaps an Italian bride?
 

Razgriz 2K9

Banned
Wouldn't Carlos become King of Portugal in 1580? Assuming Sebastian dies on schedule (which going by his personality seems reasonable) Carlos would have a superior claim to his father. So Carlos would be King of Portugal for about 18 years before inheriting Spain. I wonder if this would lead to the Habsburgs favoring Portugal over Spain for a bit, with Carlos and his family residing in Portugal for 18 years. Also, there's a high chance Don Carlos would marry his original fiance, Elisabeth de France, Philip II's third wife. After all, if Carlos isn't crazy then there's a better chance of Philip not stealing his son's bride. If so, that creates the question of who Philip marrys. Perhaps an Italian bride?

Why an Italian Bride? Why not an earlier marriage to Anna of Austria?

Also, could it be likely that if what you say happens, that Portugal would be a separate Kingdom from Spain?
 
Why an Italian Bride? Why not an earlier marriage to Anna of Austria?

Also, could it be likely that if what you say happens, that Portugal would be a separate Kingdom from Spain?

Two reasons. One, the bride would be less closely related to Philip and two, Anne was only 9/10 in 1559, so IDK if Philip would want to wait 4 plus years for her to grow up, what with him having only one heir.

As for Portugal, I'm not sure. We could see Portugal going to a second son of Carlos, or staying in union with Spain. If its the later, we could also see Portugal becoming the dominant partner in the union, not unlike when the Portuguese empire was governed from Brazil.
 
As for Portugal, I'm not sure. We could see Portugal going to a second son of Carlos, or staying in union with Spain. If its the later, we could also see Portugal becoming the dominant partner in the union, not unlike when the Portuguese empire was governed from Brazil.

Highly unlikely that Portugal would be the dominant part, it would go the way of Aragon, an important element but nowhere near as important as Castille.

As for the OP Space Oddity's fantastic Now Blooms the Tudor Rose has a sane Carlos.
 
But not as the primary POD, and he's interacting with a greatly altered Europe.

I think the clues in the title "Now Bloom Blooms the Tudor Rose" mean most people can accurately guess that the main POD is the continuation of the male line Tudor dynasty.
 
Also, there's a high chance Don Carlos would marry his original fiance, Elisabeth de France, Philip II's third wife.

Yes, or he continues the Hapsburg inbreeding and marries Anna of Austria or(God forbid) his aunt Doña Joanna. A sane Don Carlos might be more likely to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.
 
Yes, or he continues the Hapsburg inbreeding and marries Anna of Austria or(God forbid) his aunt Doña Joanna. A sane Don Carlos might be more likely to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.

None of these are likely. Anna of Austria was to young, Joanna had already been married before, and I don't think Mary was ever seriously considered. No Elisabeth would be the best match. She was the right age, and someone needed a French bride to cement the end of hostilities between France and Spain.
 
None of these are likely. Anna of Austria was to young, Joanna had already been married before, and I don't think Mary was ever seriously considered. No Elisabeth would be the best match. She was the right age, and someone needed a French bride to cement the end of hostilities between France and Spain.

So Don Carlos would marry Elisabeth. A sane Carlos would definitely have better relations with his father and would likely be named Prince of Asturias at an early age.
 
So Don Carlos would marry Elisabeth. A sane Carlos would definitely have better relations with his father and would likely be named Prince of Asturias at an early age.

I'd like to point out that George I & II had a bad relationship even though both of them were sane. George III & IV had a bad relationship even though one (perhaps both) was mad. Sanity wouldn't affect D. Felipe II's opinion of his son.

IIRC, D. Felipe didn't like Carlos because he was as twisted (physically and mentally) as he was, and in those days, someone like that would've been seen (particularly by the zealously Catholic D. Felipe) as being cursed by the Almighty. Even if he is sane - which isn't saying much - the same butterfly doesn't necessarily remove the physical impediments.

Richard III was viewed as cursed - albeit with a lot of exaggeration due to Shakespearean/Tudor propaganda - due to his scoliosis and kyphosis.
 
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